Long Lost Brother
by Animation Universe 2005
Summary: Musaki meets his long-lost twin brother, Zeke. How did they come to be? You have to read this awesome story to find out! Hope ya'll like it!
1. Big Surprise

I'm back! I decided to make a new KFP fic and this time, Musaki sees his twin brother, Zeke. Tell me if this new story is totally cool!

* * *

Long-Lost Brother

by: Terrell James

Chapter 1: Big Surprise

It was early afternoon in China and two rhino guards were walking towards the town on their way to the Jade Palace and along with them, a male black and white panda, wears green and brown shorts, brown eyes, a little taller and wears a silver and green necklace on his neck and in the middle, it has a 'Z' on it. The young panda sighed heavily as they were walking through and is looking completely anxious and somewhat unsure of it.

One of the rhino guards looked at him and asked, "Feeling nervous?"

He only sighed and said, "A lot. I'm not so sure if they will even take me in anyway."

"Well, we checked the DNA test and it was positive. The least you can do is give it a chance."

"You make it sound so sure."

"I'm sure he'll be surprised to see you."

He only sighed heavily as they walked on with an 'I'm not so sure' look on his face. Within several minutes, they got to the Jade Palace and saw the stairs. He widened his eyes and thought, 'Who in their right mind would walk on these stairs?'

Both of the rhino guards stepped in the stairs and the young panda completely resisted going up, but they told him to follow him. He scoffed and sighed heavily and followed them anyway. It had to be the least task that he had to do in his life, made even more anxious is seeing his brother.

"I just know they're not gonna like me."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Jade Palace, Musaki is enjoying himself on the Sacred Peach Tree of Heaven;y Wisdom, just feeling the breeze in the air and eating a few peaches. He sat there, just listening to the quiet sounds of the day and all of a sudden, he hears a sound coming from behind.

He looked around slowly to make sure who it was. It was nothing. Just grass flowing through the breeze. He thought that it was just his imagination and turns back. Then, the noises came closer, but this time, he heard laughter. He scoffed and sighed amused-like and as the shadows grow closer, he said, "Don't even think about it, you guys."

"WHAT?!"

Musaki turned around and it was only Shanghai and Miko, his old friends from the orphanage, trying to play a trick on Musaki.

"How'd you know it was us?" asked Miko.

"I can tell from your laughter."

"Figures." Shanghai said.

"Where's everyone else?"

"Sudoku, Ty and Sonic are on their way and Seth, Joey, Brian and Mookie are eating lunch at Mr. Ping's Noodle Shop."

"I bet they were hungry, right?" asked Musaki.

"Like you wouldn't believe."

"Hey, Lil' Saki!"

Musaki turned around and saw Po coming in. He says, "What's up, Po?"

"Master Shifu wants you at the palace."

Musaki didn't know what was coming his way. He looks at Po and asked, "Is it important?"

"Super-important."

He widened his eyes and asked, "Is he okay?"

"He is. Some rhino guards are asking him about you."

Musaki froze for a second after Po heard them say 'rhino guards'. He felt completely nervous about it and wonders what's happening. Shanghai asked, "What did you do?"

"I don't know, but I'm thinking this is not good."

Later on, Musaki, Shanghai and Miko followed Po to the Jade Palace and as they entered the Jade Palace doors, Musaki was anxious to know what's happening next. Shanghai, Miko and Po came in front of Master Shifu and some rhino guards and Shifu looks at them and said, "Bring Musaki in."

All three of them got out of their way and Musaki came in front of them and looks Shifu in the eye and asked, "You summon me, master?"

"Some rhino guards wanted to talk to you." Shifu said.

He faced the rhino guards and looked extremely intimidated between them. He panted heavily and felt a little scared about it. He told them, "Whatever it is, I didn't do it. I didn't even think about doing it. I'm way too young to go to prison."

"Calm down, kid. You didn't do anything. You're Musaki, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, there's someone to meet you."

"Meet me?"

Musaki didn't know that it was someone they were bringing to meet. All of a sudden, they brought in the young panda and he stares at Musaki and then, a shock interfered; they look alike, but different from them. They looked at each other and Musaki said, "You kinda almost look like me."

The young panda told him, "Is that a problem?'

"Oh, no. Not at all. Who is he?"

"Musaki, this is Zeke, your twin brother."

Musaki's jaw dropped to the floor and recognized his face and asked, "Zeke....you're my....."

Zeke nodded his head and said, "I'm your fraternal twin brother. Though you were born 30 seconds before me."

Musaki could not believe his blue eyes and he was so shocked, he actually fainted on the floor. Po looked at him and saw him laying on the floor, shocked and surprised.

"I think he took that rather well." Shanghai said.

* * *

Shocking, right? Well, it's only the beginning! Stay tuned for more, because I know you'll be wanting for more! Hopefully, this fic will bring me back with a welcoming greeting back to KFP fics.


	2. Surprising Discovery

We pick up where we left off.

* * *

Chapter 2: Surprising Discovery

After 2 1/2 minutes, Musaki opened his eyes and got up and saw Zeke for the first time. He dusted himself off and said, "It sounded like you said you're my twin brother."

"Well, we took some samples of his DNA and yours as well and as it turns out, you're both born with the same parents that you had." said one of the rhino guards.

"This is so sudden." Musaki said.

"Although, you two are fraternal twins."

"How can you tell them apart?" asked Po.

"Their eyes."

Shifu came towards them and he stared at Musaki's blue eyes and then, looked at Zeke's brown eyes and it turns out they were right--they are fraternal twins. Then, he asked them, "How old are you, Musaki?"

"14."

"And you?"

"14."

"What? No way." Musaki said.

"It's true. You're both 14 years old."

"Dude, I'll be 15 in a few weeks."

"So am I." Zeke said.

"You're kidding."

"I'm guessing it certainly proves that it's actually true. Musaki, you and Zeke are brothers."

"Wait. There's something I don't quite understand here. How can this be possible? Did it actually happen?"

"We've heard from several people from the Valley of Peace that told us that Zeke was born after Musaki." said one of the rhino guards.

"You mean, my parents had...."

"Yes, they did."

"So, that must mean that I had a twin brother all along and didn't even know?"

"Yes."

"Wow. I always thought I was an only child."

"The truth is, simply after Zeke's birth, they had to give him up to another family."

"I didn't know that."

Zeke groaned heavily and said, "I think he's heard enough. I get that I have a twin brother now."

"What's wrong with him?" asked Shanghai.

"Beats me." Miko answered.

"The reason we brought him here is because he needs his twin brother and hearing that you have Musaki, we thought it was a good idea."

"It's an awesome idea!" Po exclaimed.

Zeke looked at Po a little weird and asked Shifu, "What's his problem?"

"I'll tell you later." he answered.

"I may warn you though; at times, he can be a little lonesome and sometimes doesn't consider people that he sees trustworthy. The last family he had never liked him much and since then, he doesn't trust anyone at all."

"Really?" asked Shifu.

"Yes, it's true."

"Since he spends most of his time alone for several years, no family has ever had a chance to take him in or even adopt, because he doesn't trust any family or even some new people. He's somewhat of an outcast, basically."

"Need no worry. In this palace, we always build trust on each other." Shifu said.

"In here, you have to sort of rely on anyone and always have your team's back no matter what." Po said.

"You think you can help him?"

"We know. He's in good hands."

The rhino guards looked at Musaki and said, "You'll look after him, won't you?"

"Of course. I look after Po, only he's much bigger." Musaki said.

"Hey!" Po shouted.

"Just kidding!"

With that, both the rhino guards left the palace and said goodbye to Zeke and he's starting to feel a little unsure about this new family. By the time they left, Zeke felt completely anxious. When he turned around, he saw Shifu, Po, Shanghai, Musaki and Miko staring at him. He felt a little afraid and asked, "Why are you staring at me?"

"We're just welcoming you to our home." Shifu said.

"Well, okay." he said, fearfully.

"Don't worry, buddy. We don't bite." Po said.

"Don't count Tigress, though." Miko said.

"I don't know about this."

"Why? You don't trust us?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

With that, Zeke opened the doors and walked out. Musaki sighed heavily and wonders what's on his mind. He got out of the palace and followed him to see what's up with him.

Miko looked at Shanghai and asked, "Was it something I said?"

"What do you think?" asked Shifu.

"Maybe he's shy." Po said.

"We've dealt with Musaki before and I think we can make sure he feels trusted with us?"

"How, though?"

Shifu chuckled softly and said, "Leave it to me, panda. I've got plans for him."

"It's the robe talking, right?" asked Miko.

* * *

Talk about surprises! Zeke definitely feels lonesome and for what? We're not sure about his past, but I'm sure we'll find out for sure. Stick around for more!


	3. Talking to Zeke

A little conversation between Zeke and Musaki.

* * *

Chapter 3: Talking to Zeke

Zeke sat in the Sacred Peach Tree of Wisdom to sort of have his space and he's wrapped his mind to the fact that he had a twin brother and didn't even know it. He sighed heavily as he looked at the peaches in the trees and felt a sense of trouble thinking about fitting in with everyone else, because he knows that some of them can't be trusted. He stands up, looks at the tree and just pounded his fist on the tree hardly.

Then, he laid his back on the tree and some of the peaches fell down on the ground, unexpectedly. He sighed heavily and closed his brown eyes to gather his thoughts clearly about Musaki.

All of a sudden, Musaki walks in towards the Peach Tree and sees the peaches on the ground. He chuckled softly and said, "I guess it was kind of a shock to you that I'm your twin brother, huh?'

Zeke opened his eyes and saw Musaki standing there. He sighed heavily and asked, "What do you want?'

"I just wanted to talk to you."

"Dude, there's nothing to talk about, so just go away."

Musaki sighed heavily and scratched his neck, because he didn't know what he was gonna say, so he walked past him and sat on the edge of the Peach Tree for a little while. Zeke looked at Musaki and asked, "How could it be possible that you're my twin?"

"I was asking the same thing."

"I mean, I always thought I was an only child, and now it turns out I had a twin brother and I didn't know that my whole life."

"Life is full of surprises."

"Yeah, well, why couldn't it just leave me alone?"

Musaki sighed heavily and wanted to talk to Zeke about everything that happened in his life, but was kinda nervous about it, because he didn't know how he was gonna react to it. He looked at him and said, "What if it came up totally unexpected and none of us even knew it?"

Zeke looked at him confused like and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Well, I mean...what if someone like you came in and told me, 'I'm your brother' and I would just hug him tightly and say how happy I am to see you, even though I've only seen you for a few minutes."

"Like am I really your brother?"

"Yeah, kinda like that."

"Oh, okay."

"I actually just came to see if you were okay."

Zeke sighed and said, "I am. It's just....the minute that those rhino guards left me with you guys, I'm not sure how I would deal with them."

"Well, from here, we always count on each other and we have each other's back. So we're like one big family, even though we're in different species."

"So you guys trust each other?"

"That's how Shifu instilled in us."

"The truth is.....I don't trust anyone."

Musaki's eyes widened and asked, "What's not to trust?"

"Anyone that says they're my friends."

"You don't mean that."

"Yeah, I do. I mean, it's bad enough that my parents gave me away and then they gave me to another family that totally hurts me. It's just not fair to me."

It was a brief pause for a minute and Musaki sees Zeke venting a little bit and was frozen when he heard 'parents hurting him' part and he asked, "Your foster parents....abused you?"

Zeke breathed heavily and looked at Musaki in those blue eyes and said, "Yeah, they did."

"Why?"

"I don't know. They just beat me up, threaten to kill me, say mean things to me and even tear me down. It's like I got no one to care for or trust."

"I'm sorry that happened to you."

"Yeah, me too."

Hearing Zeke talk about what happened was a wake-up call for Musaki and he never realized how serious it was and he wanted to know more about it, but he didn't want to pressure him, so he briefly asked, "What happened to them anyway?"

"I don't wanna talk about it, okay?"

He can kinda tell that it was worse from there and nodded his head and told him, "I understand."

"It's just that....what if the others don't like me or even trust me?"

"Come on, everyone will like you. Besides, Po is super-friendly and he can be friends with anyone."

"Why is he here anyway?"

"You're gonna find this hard to believe, but he's actually the Dragon Warrior."

Zeke didn't believe that for a second and said, "No way."

"Who else defeated Tai Lung?"

"Some fat panda who used the Wuxi-finger hold on him."

"That's Po."

All of a sudden, Zeke sees Po doing some kung-fu tricks and sparred with Tigress and showing off his kung-fu moves near the palace. Musaki looked at him and said, "You believe me now?"

"I guess I do."

"Even though he may be a Dragon Warrior, he's still cool to talk to or even hang out."

"What about the other's that you know?"

"Oh, you mean Shanghai and Miko? They're cool. I promise you, they won't bite."

"I hope you're right."

"Duh! Don't I always?"

Zeke was willing to give Musaki a chance and then, he looked at him and said, "I just can't believe I actually found you. I guyess I was nervous when I heard I have a twin brother."

Musaki smiled at him and said, "What do you we start off by just being friends?"

"I guess I can always use a friend."

"Hey, guys."

"Hey, Po."

Po walked in and saw Musaki and Zeke coming in along with Tigress. Tigress looked at Zeke and he looked kinda intimidated towards her. She asked, "Who are you?"

"M-my name's Zeke." he said, fearfully.

"He's Musaki's long-lost twin brother." Po explained.

Tigress was dumbfounded and confused. She looked at Musaki and Zeke and said, "Impossible! How can they be brothers?"

"We just found that out, which is why they call it 'long-lost'." Musaki said.

Zeke was a little scared towards her and backed away, slow-like and sat down on the tree. Musaki sighed heavily and said, "I think we should give him some space."

"I want to know more about this Zeke." she demanded.

"Later on!"

"Okay, let's head back inside." Po said.

"You read my mind."

Musaki, Tigress and Po all walked back to the palace, leaving Zeke in the tree and then, he turned around and they were gone. He sighed heavily and remained in the tree throughout the day. He started to feel a little worried about how the others will accept him and how he'll fit in the palace.

* * *

There's a lot of angst with Zeke, right? Like he knows something secretive, but can't tell Musaki about it except a few things. Hopefully, he'll have a trust between him and the others? Question is, will it happen? Find out on the next chapter!


	4. Shifu's Conversation with Zeke

Now let's see how Shifu can handle Zeke.

* * *

Chapter 4: Shifu's Conversation with Zeke

Moments later, Zeke was still in the Sacred Peach Tree to sort of gather his thoughts about being Musaki's long-lost twin brother and hope everyone else around the entire palace can trust him, when the reality is that he can't trust anyone. With so much questions in his heart and mind, it feels as though he needed to gather some time to think this though.

He got up from the tree and started to walk inside the palace, but he stopped by Master Shifu. He saw him looking a little stern, which made him very fearful and he started backing away a little bit. Shifu comes to him and said, "Do not be afraid."

"Why shouldn't I be?" asked Zeke.

"Well, I can see through your eyes that you had a rough past."

Zeke didn't know how Shifu knew about it and only stared at him and asked, "How'd you figure that out?"

"I'm a very wise master. After all my years of experience, I can tell this person hasn't had a strong upbringing and has been through a lot just by looking into their eyes."

"So, you got me all figured out. Big deal."

"Are you still in disbelief that you're Musaki's twin brother?"

"A little bit. I mean, I always thought I was the only child when I was growing up, but nobody ever told me I had a twin. It's like a slap in the face to me."

"Well, Musaki is your brother after all."

"True, but I'm not so sure if I can trust him."

Shifu looked puzzled about what Zeke said and asked, "What do you mean you can't trust Musaki?"

"Well, if he really is my twin brother, then how come I've never knew him?"

"Maybe if you'd give him a chance."

"Everyone else has been saying the same thing to me before I even came up here. Always give them a chance. What have they done for me lately?"

"In here, we thrive on trust and loyalty."

"What are you saying?"

"You have to give everyone else a chance here. Musaki has felt the same way since he came here, but he's starting to be like family to us. And we've very fortunate to have him here. The same as you."

"Come on, like you really mean it."

"Look at me. Look me in the eyes, Zeke. Does it look like I'm not serious?"

Zeke looked deeply in Shifu's blue eyes and sees it as the same eyes as Musaki's only much smaller. He can see the expression on his face and that it was no smirk. Then, he replied, "Not really."

"Listen, I know you've had some rough times you've had to deal with, but myabe if you'd share them with Musaki, then maybe you'd feel a trust in him."

Zeke was hesitant about this and said, "I don't know...."

"All I'm saying is get to know him. Just give him a chance at least."

He had to think about this clearly and wanted to know more about Musaki, since he is his twin brother. He had no one to trust but himself, but he was willing to give Musaki a chance. He turned to Shifu and said, "I'll try."

Shifu chuckled and said, "Good. How good are you at kung-fu?"

"Well, I do some kung-fu training in private. I'm a self-taught kung fu trainee."

"How long have you been self-taught?"

"When I was seven or something."

Shifu had an idea of showing his training skills to everyone and then, he told him, "Show us your training skills in the morning."

Zeke looked puzzled and asked, "In the morning?"

"We do kung-fu training every day. Just show us what you got in the morning."

"Sure...."

"Remember what I said, understand?"

"Okay."

With that, Shifu walked away from the Peach Tree and Zeke was worried about how long will this go on. He sighed heavily and said, "This is gonna be a challenge for me."

* * *

Okay, we know a little bit about Zeke. Think he can get used to the others? Let's find out next!


	5. A New Room

Let's see how he can adjust to life in his new home.

* * *

Chapter 5: A New Room

It was sunset when Zeke walked out of the Peach Tree to head inside the palace, but he sees Musaki walking his way to the bunkhouse. Zeke never knew that it came with a bunkhouse and he was surprised to see it for the first time. After Musaki came in and closed the doors, Zeke popped out and decided to take a look around as well.

Zeke walked to the doors, opened them and gave a look-see of this place. As soon as he came in, he looked around and figured out this is how they live. While he was walking through, he sees Musaki coming in the kitchen. He hides himself away so no one could figure out it's him.

He took a peek and sees the kitchen where he sees Musaki along with Po and most of the Furious Five there.

"So, Lil' Saki. How's it going, bro?" asked Po.

"Not much. Just had a great and weird day, basically." Musaki answered.

"Weird? Weird how?" asked Mantis.

"Like unexpected weird."

"I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with Crane mumbling in his sleep." Viper said.

"That was only one time it happened." Crane said, gritting his beak.

"Well, this one is definitely unexpected to me. I just found out....I have a twin brother."

Most of the Five were silent for a minute and then Monkey said, "Why do you say it's unexpected? Isn't Po your twin?"

"Yeah, but seriously. My parents really gave birth to twins."

"What? Are you serious?" asked Mantis.

"Yep."

"That is unexpected."

"Well, what's his name?"

"Zeke. He's a lot like me, only quieter."

"So, when can we meet him?"

"I'd say right now."

They all turned around and saw Master Shifu standing there. Everyone said, "Hello, master."

"Hello all. You said you wanted to meet Zeke, right?"

"Well, Tigress already met Zeke and I think he's scared of her." Musaki said.

"All I did was ask him how did he get to be his real brother." Tigress explained.

"Was that before or after you intimidated him?" asked Po.

"Stay out of this!" she hissed.

"So, what's he like? Is he cool? Is he friendly? Is he...shy?" asked Viper.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?"

Then, Shifu turned around and called his name. Once Zeke heard his name being called, he knew that there was no escaping from this. He had no choice but to face the others. He sighed heavily and got up from the floor, walked towards the kitchen very slowly and when he entered in, he looked very nervous and anxious about seeing them.

All of the others looked at Zeke and he said, "Please don't hurt me."

"Why would we do that? We're cool." Monkey said.

Zeke looked at Monkey and told him, "You sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Zeke can be a little...shy." Musaki said.

"Don't be afraid of us. We don't bite." Viper said, gently.

"Except for Tigress." Mantis muttered.

"I heard that!" she exclaimed.

"Good! Wanna hear it again?!"

"Anyhow, Zeke, this is Mantis, Monkey, Viper, Crane and I'm sure you already know Tigress." Shifu said.

"Yeah, I see that. I can tell that she hates me." Zeke said.

"Whoa! 'Hate' is a strong word. More like 'dislikes' you." Po said.

"How do you know?"

"She can be a little rough around the edges, but she's often cool....almost." Crane explained.

Zeke looked at Tigress and looked a little afraid of her a little. He breathed heavily several times, swallows hard and backs away slow-like. Tigress asked, "Why are you backing off me?"

"Cause you're about to strike me, aren't you?"

"Me, strike you? What does that supposed to mean?"

"I heard you can strike anyone with your quick moves."

Po was surprised about how he knows about her and said, "Sounds like someone's a fan of the Furious Five!"

"That and the Dragon Warrior."

Po feels completely giddy inside and started laughing excitedly and jumping up and down with excitement and surprise. He looks at Musaki and said, "Your twin is so cool!"

"Cool it down, Po." Musaki said.

"All right, everyone. We start training tomorrow. Get some rest." Shifu said.

Several minutes later, Zeke was in the hallway, walking past the other rooms when he saw Shifu coming in. He asked, "What are you doing up?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to wake anyone up, so I thought it'd be better if I slept outside." Zeke whispered.

"Sleep outside? Don't be ridiculous."

"How can you be so sure about it?"

"What is the one thing you wanted more than anything in the world?"

Zeke gulps softly and said, "My own room."

"Follow me."

Soon, he follows Shifu in the hall and in only a few seconds, there was one room with candles burning and Zeke didn't know what was coming. He looked at Shifu and asked, "What is that?"

"Why don't you find out for yourself?"

Zeke sighs and grabs the door and when he opens it, it was the most amazing room he ever saw. Everything from the sunset picture to the candles surrounding the room and a bed to go with it. He couldn't believe that this room is the best room he ever saw. He enters the room and looked stunned and amazed from it. He whispered, "Is it...mine?'

"Yes, it is your own room."

Zeke smiled and said, "This is sweet."

"I'm glad you like it."

"Let me try out the bed."

Zeke sat down on the bed, then lays down on it and it feels comfortable for him. He sighs softly and feels relaxed. He looked at Shifu and said, "This feels nice."

"Maybe it can help you get some rest."

"It just might."

"Well, see you in the morning."

"Okay."

Just as Shifu's about to leave, he stops, turns back and said, "Welcome to your new home, Zeke. If there's anything you need, let me know."

"Sure."

Then, Shifu left the room, leaving Zeke enjoying his new room. As good as it is, he's still not sure if anyone in the palace he considers trustworthy yet. And he's still not sure if he can trust Musaki, even though he's his long-lost twin brother. He sighs nervously and blinked his eyes twice and hopes for the best. He blew out the candles, got on his bed and went to sleep. He wants to sleep in peace, but he's not sure what gonna be in store for tomorrow.

* * *

Little anxiety in Zeke. Let's see how he makes it through his first night in the Jade Palace.


	6. The First Night

Zeke's first night at the Jade Palace and add to that a little nightmare from his past.

* * *

Chapter 6: The First Night

Hours passed by and it's late at night and Zeke has been sleeping for a while, then he starts muttering in his sleep, tossing and turning as if he's having a nightmare, but the nightmare became a worse flashback to his past.

"No....please....leave me alone.....What did I do to you?....."

His nightmares revert back to when he was young and often times, abused.

* * *

_Flashback_

_The door kick-slams open and in comes his foster father, looking incredibly heated and he sees Zeke, curled up in a little corner._

_"ZEKE!!!!" he roared._

_Zeke fearfully shown his head to his foster father and starts whimpering a little bit, which made his father infuriated._

_"GET OVER HERE!!!!"_

_He was scared to get anywhere near him, but slowly walked up to him and looked at him in the eye and asked, "Y-yes?"_

_He got close to his face, intimidated like and told him, "Why do you keep hiding from me?"  
_

_"C-cause you're scaring me." he answered, innocently._

_His foster father came over to him, grabbed him by the neck and just threw him on the wall as hard as he could and all of a sudden--_

_BAM!  
_

_And fell flat on his face. _

_"I BETTER NOT SEE YOU HIDING FROM ME IN YOUR ROOM AGAIN!!!"_

_The door slams and the foster father steps out of the room, angrily. Zeke curled up in a corner, covered his face and started crying softly. He didn't want his stepfather to see him cry, because it will make it worse._

_"EZEKIEL!!!!"_

_Zeke was terrified of coming down to see what his foster father wanted and hid himself away from him again. Then, his foster father charges towards his room, kicks the door and doesn't see him anywhere. He growled angrily and burst open the closet door and sees Zeke in there. He grabs him by the neck and looks him in the eye and said, "I thought I told you not to hide from me again, you ungrateful little brat!"_

_"I'm sorry. I-I can't help it."_

_"Listen to me! It's bad enough that I've put up with a hard day for me, but what makes it worse is that you're hiding from me! And were you crying?!"  
_

_"No...."_

_He sees one tear coming from his eye and it drops down to the ground. He looks at Zeke and said, "You're a LIAR!!!"_

_Zeke screamed loudly and beat him in the eye, nose, face, bruised his arm, ankle, leg and bashed his head several times. And he threw him on the floor seven times. His dad left the room angry and slammed the door loudly. Zeke was shaking so badly and he was injured in different places. Then, he got to his bed and laid there and started crying softly._

_All of a sudden, his dad came back with bamboo stick and Zeke looked at him and he was really scared. Then, he charges over him and bashed him several times harder, which made Zeke scream and cry in pain. One last bash and then--_

* * *

Zeke woke up screaming loudly all over the room and stopped quickly. He panted furiously and he was sweating so much from that nightmare turned bad memory. He looks around and all he sees is his new room all dark and stuff. He sighs heavily and gets up out of bed and walks out the door, hoping no one was awake, but what he doesn't know is that Musaki was watching him.

He's starting to wonder what's wrong with him, so he got out of his room and crept towards the hallway to see what;s wrong with Zeke. He sees the door of the bunkhouse open and he gets out of there and closes it to follow him. He catches him in the Sacred Peach Tree, crying.

Musaki walked up the steps and sees him breaking down. All he could do is touch him on the shoulder for comfort and Zeke didn't know who it was, but when he turned around and saw that it was only Musaki, he felt as if it was really happening.

He looked at him in the eye and Musaki asked, "Are you okay?"

Zeke's eyes were filled up with tears and they started rolling down his cheeks and he didn't say anything. He only nodded with a 'no'. Musaki could tell he had a nightmare and just hugged him tightly. Zeke didn't know if it was a real one, but when he felt it, he can tell that it's real. He slowly gave him a hug and embraced it.

A simple tear fell down on Zeke's eyes and cried on Musaki's shoulder and Musaki whispered, "I'm here for you."

"Thank you." he said, tearfully.

"Kinda late tonight. Wanna go back in?"

Both Zeke and Musaki stood up and Zeke nodded his head up and down and followed him back to the bunkhouse. Zeke asked him, "How'd you find me?"

"I can tell that you like the Sacred Peach Tree a lot, because it's the place to get away from it all. Heard you scream. Is there something wrong?"

"I'm not sure if I can even tell you."

"It's your first night here."

"Well, I had a bad dream."

"Really? How bad?"

"Worse, but I don't know if I'm ready to tell you just yet."

"When are you gonna be ready, though?"

"Just not tonight."

Musaki could kinda tell that it was personal and he respected that. He patted his back and said, "You can just tell whenever you feel like it, okay?"

"Okay."

"Well, I'm going to bed. Good night, bro."

"You, too...bro."

Musaki went out of Zeke's way and went back to his room to get some rest. He did the same thing and went back to his room to get some sleep. He's not sure what tomorrow's gonna bring in, but he's thinking about what might happen sooner or later.

* * *

Very comforting form Musaki to comfort Zeke. What will tomorrow bring? Stay tuned!


	7. First Day of Training

Zeke's first day of training. Let'sm how that works out and before that, Musaki's early morning yoga routine.

* * *

Chapter 7: First Day of Training

Early sunrise came forth as Musaki walks out to the Valley of Peace to do some serious yoga positions. He stands on one foot while the other leg lifts in the air and raises his hands as well. After that, he sets his leg down and does some kung-fu positions to it. He starts breathing in and exhaling all the stress away and then, raises his hands apart and lifts his ankle towards his leg while closing his eyes.

Several seconds in and he takes a big breath and starts exhaling deeply. He opens his eyes and sees the sky turns purple and blue. He then sits down, crosses both his legs, closed his eyes and starts thinking peaceful thoughts in his mind, like he's gonna get through another day of rigorous training. WIth Zeke in the mix, he's hoping that he will bond more with him and get to know him more, if he's planning on listening.

As the sun starts coming up on the horizon, he can feel the sunshine on his face and let out a contended sigh that today's gonna be a good day. After four minutes, he opens his eyes, stands up and lets out a smile and said, "Good morning to the world."

Musaki walked back to the bunkhouse only to find Shifu standing in front of the doors with his arms folded. He can sense that he's busted for something. He said, "Morning, master."

"Doing some yoga, young Musaki?" asked Shifu, sternly.

"Yes, master."

"That's good to hear. But you're a little late."

"One who does yoga is not late for the rest of the day. I'm sure everyone else is early."

Shifu chuckled and said, "Who told you something like that?"

"You."

He looked a little puzzled and chuckled in embarassment and said, "Of course. I was actually coming around to wake everyone else."

"I'm guessing I'll meet you in the training hall then."

"You may go."

With that, Musaki walked off to the training hall to wait for the others while Shifu walked towards the training hall waiting for the students to wake up and for the morning gong to sound. When the morning gong sounded, all the students looked at Shifu's shadow and quickly went out the rooms and said, "Good morning, master!"

As soon as he sees Crane, Mantis, Viper, Monkey and Tigress all awake, they see Po stumbling out of the door and falling down on the floor....again and Po chuckled nervously and said, "Morning, master."

Shifu sighed heavily and said, "The things I do for training...."

"Sorry again."

"Po, we've seen you stumble a lot of times every morning to face all of us." Crane said.

"Oh, come on. It was only one time." Po said.

"300 times!" they all exclaimed.

"And a half." Mantis retorted.

"Whatever! It doesn't matter! When was the last time I've fallen down that's over the top?"

"Gee, I don't know. There were numerous times that it's been over the top, I forgot to mention it!" Monkey exclaimed.

"Students! Let us train!" Shifu snapped.

"Yes, master!" they all said.

Then, he suspects something. He looks around and sees seven of the trainers and one is already waiting on the training hall and he said, "We're missing one. Where's Zeke?"

"Zeke's still sleeping? Wow, I bet that nightmare really put him to sleep." Po said.

"How'd you figure?"

"I heard him scream last night. What was he screaming about, I don't know."

"I heard him scream too. Think there's something wrong?" asked Viper.

"Meet me in the training hall. I'll wake up Zeke." Shifu said.

Everyone nodded and went on their way, leaving Shifu to walk around and look for Zeke's room. When he walked into his room, he sees him still sleeping. He went near him and gently squeezed his head to wake him up. When Zeke's head turned towards Shifu, he opened his blurry brown eyes and when it got cleared, he saw Shifu's face in front of him, which scared him. He jumped up and fell down on the bed.

"You okay, Zeke?" asked Shifu.

Zeke popped out and asked, "Why'd you do that?!"

"First day of training."

"Are you kidding? It's early."

"Never too early for training. You said you taught kung fu all by yourself?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Well, it's time we'd put it to the test then."

"Sure thing."

Zeke got up and puts on his necklace and started to walk out the door, but Shifu stopped him for a quick second and brought in his flute and bashed him on the head.

"Owww! What was that for?!"

"Raising your voice at me when I woke you up."

Zeke chuckled nervously and said, "Sorry. When I looked at you, I thought that--"

He paused for a sec and Shifu started looking at him weird-like, because he reminds that face of his foster father and said, "Never mind. Forget I even mention it, okay?"

"Let's head to the training hall."

When they finally got to the training hall, they saw Po, Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Monkey, Viper and Musaki waiting for them. Shifu told them, "Sorry it took so long. Had to wake up Zeke here. I've been informed that he's a self-taught kung fu apprentice from a young age, so he's gonna prove it to us."

"I didn't know you could actually do something like that." Tigress said.

"Well, I didn't have anyone teaching kung-fu, so I thought I would teach it all by myself."

"Let's see him step up." said Monkey.

As soon as they got to the front, Viper was the first to strike him down. Zeke was ready for a challenge that he's bound to take. Viper asked, "Are you ready?"

"Of course."

Then, she quickly strikes him with her tail and Zeke misses it by an inch by going up, down, back and forth and around it goes. She steps up and uses her tail to take him down, but Zeke did a backflip/spin around trick and nearly nicked her by an inch, which she misses. She went all around him, but nothing could stop him from his kung-fu methods. Flipping, kicking and stroking her with every source of combat.

Most of the others were impressed, but Musaki was the one that's most impressed. His jaw dropped in total shock when he saw Zeke doing his kung-fu skills and using it on the training hall. Viper was surprised at Zeke for his hidden moves.

"How'd you do that?!" asked Viper.

"Like I said, self-taught."

"Most impressive."

As the day went on, Zeke was unstoppable at every ove he makes. Monkey was the second to go and he started using his staff for combat and Zeke uses the stick and focuses on his attacks. Both staffs were clacking like crazy and both of them leap themselves up in the air and Monkey swung on the tree and flies towards Zeke, but he was no match for him. He did an air backflip and took a swing at him. He leaped back to the ground with his feet and Zeke did the same as well. Suddenly, Monkey gave him a thumbs-up for his kung fu skills.

Then, it was Tigress' turn for her skills to collide with Zeke's skills. They both go at each other and she uses her moves to get at him, but nothing could stop Zeke from getting beat at his own game, so he copied some of her moves and used it at her. He thrashes her down with his kicks and swings at her and runs in the air above her and went the other side. Zeke made a mischievous smile at her and when she looks at him, he uses his 'come here' finger to get her and she runs as quick as she can, but he's behind her now. When she turns around, he waves at her and then, grabs both her arms and flipped her on the ground. When Tigress got up, she looked at Zeke and said, "You proved me wrong."

Mantis, Po, Shifu and Crane were next up to spar Zeke and Mantis used his techniques to get him, but Zeke already beat him to it. He uses his spin around/backflip moves towards him and flickers him. Then, he flips over to him and knocks him down. Mantis comes up to Zeke and said, "Pretty good, kid."

Crane was next to come forth towards Zeke and flies in the air and strikes him down, but Zeke misses by an inch and only leaped up the air and kicked him twice. Zeke uses a backflip/twist around move to miss his strike and landed him on the ground. Crane flew back down and told him, "You say you're a self-taught kung fu apprentice. Now I believe it."

Po and Shifu were next to go forth. Po starts using his moves that he used on Tai Lung with different types of combats. Zeke got down on the ground, goes around and shoves Po's foot down in order to make him trip. Then, gets up and Po starts running in and uses his belly to send him flying, but Zeke grabs on to the tree branch and went airborne on him and head-butted him on his back.

Po was definitely surprised to see him do a crazy trick like that. He looked at Zeke and exclaimed, "Awesomeness to the next level! If anyone says you're not a self-trainer, they'll have to answer to me so they can feel the thunder!"

Shifu was the next to go. They both stared at each other and started sparring with each other. Zeke tried everything he could do to get him, but he was proven too quick for him. When Zeke sees Shifu behind him, he uses his backflip moves to get him and also, he's a little quicker than Shifu. Zeke jumps up in the air several times and when he got higher, He quickly went down with his corkscrew movement and he aims for Shifu and kicks him in the stomach.

He fell down on the ground and then, gets up again and Zeke gets back on the ground and Shifu kicks him down, but ducks down and misses and kicks Shifu down pretty hard. He lays there, sees if there's any blood on him, and there wasn't any. When he got up, he was pretty impressed with his astounding movements and said, "I now believe it. You're a self-taught kung fu student. When you train with me, consider yourself a full student."

Zeke pants heavily and said, "Thanks, master."

As Shifu got back with the others, he said, "And now, let's see you spar with Musaki."

Zeke looks at Musaki and said, "Bring it, Musaki!"

Musaki chuckles and said, "You know I cannot resist a challenge like this!"

* * *

Oh snap! Musaki and Zeke spar with each other! This is gonna be good!


	8. Musaki vs Zeke

We pick up where we left off of. Musaki and Zeke battling each other for training. Two brothers in a kung-fu position. Can it get any cooler than that?!

* * *

Chapter 8: Musaki vs. Zeke

Musaki and Zeke faced each other on the front of the training hall. This is a first for them--two long-lost brothers finally exposing their kung-fu skills to each other and to spar at them for the first time.

"Ready? Fight!" Shifu exclaimed.

Musaki was more than ready to spar with Zeke and Musaki leaped up in the air and knocked Zeke out with his feet. Zeke got up and plans to run towards him, but missed with his anti-gravity lean trick. He got back up on his feet and then, Zeke flips him down when he wasn't looking.

Musaki grabbed his hands and flipped him as well. He made a super-backflip and just kicked him in the face.

Zeke ran faster and surrounded him so he would get confused, but Musaki used his invisibility powers to sort of avoid getting confused. Once the dust cleared, a visible Musaki waits for Zeke to finish running around and kicks him hard.

"Oh, no you did-n't!"

"Oh, yeah I d-id!"

"You are sooo dead!"

Zeke quickly got to him and used his flip/swing moves at him and kicks him in the head and Musaki got up and continue sparring at each other.

Po was amazed with how both of them do kung-fu so good. He looks at Crane and asked, "How do they do it?"

"Zeke's pretty good. I've known the guy for only 24 hours, but he's getting really good at it." Crane said.

"He even surprised me. Don't know why he's Musaki's brother, but he's amazing." Mantis said.

"Come on! I can take you on!" Musaki shouted.

"Dude, you do NOT want a piece of this!" Zeke said.

"I can take you down very quickly."

Zeke quickly got him and attempted to jump up towards him with a body-slam, but Musaki quickly got away, which Zeke fell down hard, but turns around and sees Musaki doing a body-slam as well. He slammed his body down harder.

"He'll feel that in the morning." Crane said.

Musaki got up and shouted, "Yipee-kai-yay, mama sita!"

Zeke got up quickly and used his kick-moves to take him down a notch, but he grabs his foot and twirls around and kicks him up in the air and when he came back down to the ground, he runs towards him and charges him hard.

Both Musaki and Zeke leaped up in the air and started kicking, swinging and flipping at each other. When both of them got down, Musaki rode on Zeke's back, but Zeke grabbed him already and kicked him in the face, both fell on opposite direction.

"Time!" Shifu shouted.

Musaki got up and Zeke stood there, both panting furiously, looking at each other and breaking a little sweat. Musaki looked at Zeke and asked, "Where have you been hiding that?"

"Self-taught, bro." he replied.

"Fair enough."

"I see you've done some training as well."

"Well, with these guys, anything's possible."

"I have to say you both have done extremely well. Musaki, great effort, as always. Zeke, same thing. You both may be long-lost twins, but it seems to me that you both are warriors. Always remember that. And that shows today. You two should be very proud of yourselves." Shifu explains.

"We are." Musaki said.

"Let us break."

Everyone departs from the training hall and Zeke looks at Musaki and said, "Dude, you're amazing."

"I get that a lot. Same as you."

"Thanks. No one has ever said anything like that to me."

"Not even once?"

"Nah. I'm always too non-trustworthy to anyone."

"You can trust me."

"Really? You sure?"

"Of course."

"How am I certain if you do?"

"Just give me a chance, okay?"

Zeke sighs heavily and told him, "I'll try."

"Just try for me."

"Okay, I will."

"Cool."

Musaki walks off and Zeke stuck around for a while and plans to walk towards the Sacred Peach Tree for some peace and quiet and also to think things through and how he should try his hardest to trust Musaki and accept him as his twin brother, even though he may find it a little difficult, but at least he can try.

* * *

Was that bananas or what?! Time for Zeke's downtime. Stay tuned for more of this!


	9. Meeting Zeke

Zeke meeting Musaki's friends and introduces them to their secret handshake. This is gonna be sweet!

* * *

Chapter 9: Meeting Zeke

After some heavy training, Zeke took a breather to the Sacred Peach Tree to sort of look at the clouds for a while and was finally able to breathe after that energetic spar with Musaki. It's like he can actually call himself a self-trained student of kung-fu, but he still has a long way to go on his journey; not only doing some training with the others, but dealing with the fact that he has a long-lost twin brother.

Although, something twinged at him that makes this place feel familiar in some strange way. He's not sure about it, but it seems peaceful there.

"You must really like it there, right?"

Zeke turns around to see only Musaki there. He smiled and said, "Hey, how's it going?"

"Fine."

Musaki sat down next to Zeke and feels the wind blowing through his fur and Zeke told him, "So, how come you always come here?"

"Well, it's sort of like my safe haven for me when I need to be alone or something like that. It's basically a place to sort of get away from training and everything. I've only known you since yesterday, but I see you like coming out here, right?" Musaki said.

"Yeah, I do. Isn't that weird?"

"Weird how?"

"That we look alike, but we're....different."

"Dude, we're fraternal twins. Long-lost fraternal twins. We always look different."

"Yeah, I can only wonder how--"

Zeke paused for a second and wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible. Musaki turns around and asked, "Wonder what?"

"Nothing."

Musaki glared at him, thinking that something was up with him hat he didn't want to know about. He said, "Come on, dude. Don't act like I don't know anything."

Zeke sighed and said, "Well, I was just wondering what my real mom looked like."

"And your real dad?"

"Yeah. I mean, it's like I've wanted to know more about them than ever."

Musaki knew his parents until he was three when they were killed by Tai Lung and that memory was stilling playing on his head. He blinked twice and told him, "Sometimes I wonder about them as well, wondering if they're okay and all."

Zeke asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't know. I mean, I'm sure that they were great parents and reason why they have twins is because they're not sure if they can handle both of them, so give away the other to another family who hopefully has a better life and can meet the bio parents as soon as they get older." Musaki explained.

There was a brief pause between the two of them and only looked at each other and strangely, it seems as though they wanted to know more about each other than ever. Zeke stared at Musaki and said, "Can that happen?"

"Probably. It just depends if they're living or not."

Zeke almost understood what he said and kinda gave it some thought about it afterwards. He told him, "I should accept the fact that you're twin brother and if there's anything I need to know about you, can you at least tell me?"

"I'll do that if you can."

"Sure, I will. Hopefully."

They've come to an understanding already that whenever is a good time to explain, then they will form a brotherhood between both of them soon.

"SAKI-MAN!!"

Musaki turned around and sees his friends Shanghai, Miko, Ty, Sonic, Sudoku, Mookie, Ty, Brian, Seth and Joey coming through. He smiled and said, "What's up, guys?"

"Not much. Just chillin' at the Peach Tree?" asked Brian.

"As always."

"Hey, who's he?" asked Joey.

Joey looked at Zeke and Zeke looked at him and asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm Joey. Who are _you?_"

"I'm Zeke."

Musaki turned his attention to Zeke and wanted to tell them about it. He stands next towards him and said, "Guys, this is Zeke. I recently found out that he's my long-lost twin brother."

The guys were surprised and astonished that he's actually Musaki's twin brother, except for Miko and Shanghai, cause they already knew about it. Brian said to Musaki, "Dude...you never told us you had a twin brother before."

"Life is so full of surprises, isn't it?"

"I'll say!" exclaimed Sudoku.

"So how long have you know Musaki?" asked Joey.

"24 hours." Zeke answered.

"Has Musaki shown you intro-handshake?" asked Sonic.

"The what?"

"The intro-handshake. We made it up some time after we caught up with each other on how we can greet." Musaki said.

"Let's show the new guy how it's done!" Ty exclaimed.

"Agreed!"

Zeke was confused about this intro thing. All of them gathered together and Musaki came first with Shanghai and did this secret handshake. They both looked at each other and gace them high fives, knuckle touches, clapped their hands and soared their hands and touched the ground, then grabbed each other's hands and their palms, and finished with rolling their heads, grabbing their hands and spin around in different sides and ended with a handshake plus a high five and snapped their fingers. Both of them were laughing and everything and his friends repeated the same process until Zeke got it.

"This is how we normally greet each other." Miko said.

"Does it get confusing?" asked Zeke.

"Not really. If you include being dizzy when you spin too fast, then it does." Musaki said.

"You guys should totally do a secret handshake." Brian explained.

"And how are we gonna come up with it?"

"Just be creative."

"We'll think of it soon." Zeke said, uneasily.

"Just let us know if you want to see it. We're actually here to hang out with Musaki, but we can hang out with you if you want." Ty said.

"Is that okay with you?" asked Musaki.

Zeke looked at Musaki's friends and sees that they're trusting to Musaki, and Zeke was able to get to know most of them and replied, "Sure, why not?"

"Coolness!"

"Okay, so far, I've only known you for 5 minutes, but you're already the coolest brother ever!" Brian exclaimed.

Zeke was a little taken aback from that. Being called 'cool' in front of his friends has kinda earned his trust with them.

"Cool...."

* * *

Zeke definitely feels acceptance with Musaki and his friends. Think he can accept him later on? We'll see! Just stay tuned!


	10. Trust Issue

Zeke reveals a little secret he kept that is personal and examines a little mistrust in Musaki.

* * *

Chapter 10: Trust Issue

Later in the afternoon, Musaki, Zeke, Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Ty, Sonic, Seth, Joey, Mookie and Brian were all walking towards the Valley of Peace and into the Hall of Heroes, looking at the stadium from behind the palace. All of them gasp in amazement, including Zeke. It was the first time he would actually witness something amazing and historic like this.

Zeke's mouth dropped open and whispered, "This is amazing."

"Is that the place where---" Shanghai started.

"Yep. Where Po first fell down in front of an entire audience when Oogway chose him as the Dragon Warrior." Musaki said.

"Whoa! Even back then, he was supercool!" Mookie exclaimed.

"Doesn't he always?"

"I never thought that he would actually be chosen as the Dragon Warrior." Zeke said.

"Well, he got chosen and it was no accident."

"An accident? He was accidently chosen?"

"There are no accidents."

Zeke didn't know what that meant by 'there are no accidents' and asked, "Who says things like that?"

"Master Oogway."

"That's what I heard. He always says that there's no accidents for every single thing, even a mistake couldn't be made accidental." Sudoku said.

"Doku, that's the biggest thing you said coming out." Ty said.

"It's my guilty pleasure."

"So, how come you guys were long-lost brothers and never knew anything about it?" asked Sonic.

"Well, I guess we got separated at birth by our parents and they kept Musaki and gave me up to another family, which was probably the biggest mistake ever." Zeke said.

"Mistake? What do you mean?" asked Brian.

"Well, I'm not sure how to tell you this, but my foster dad, sometimes he can be so angry with me with even the tiny little things and takes out all his anger on me after having such a bad day."

The others were dead silent for a quick second and they stared at Zeke, like something horrible has happened to them. Joey asked him, "I'm not sure how to put this, but are you saying....that he....abuses you?"

Zeke looked at Joey in the eyes and slowly nodded his head up and down. Most of them gasped in complete horror, including Musaki. He never knew that his twin brother was tormented by his foster father. He walked up to him and asked, "Is that true?"

"Very true."

"How come you never told me?"

"Cause....I was kinda afraid to tell you this because you wouldn't trust me."

"What are you talking about? I can trust you."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better, aren't you? Skip that, are you really serious about this?"

"Serious about what?"

"You trusting me."

"I'm like 200 billion percent serious."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I trust you! Why else would I not trust you?"

"Well....because I'm not sure if I can trust you."

Musaki's eyes widened up and only asked, "What?"

"When I first got here and heard that you were my brother, I wasn't so sure if I could trust you. Now, I don't know if I can."

He was taken aback with the fact that Zeke couldn't trust Musaki and it really shocked him for a minute. He looked at his friends and they were as surprised about it as Musaki is. Then, he looks at Zeke and said, "You can trust me for anything. Even if you don't, I can still trust you."

Zeke sighed heavily and said, "I knew I should've never told you that. I don't think I can trust you, Musaki."

Then, he walks away from the rest and got away from Musaki. All Musaki could do is stand there, thinking about what he said. He still trusts his brother, but he wonders that if Zeke would ever trust Musaki. Seth looks at Musaki and asked, "Want me to talk to him for you?"

"Maybe I should talk to him to see if he's okay. He is my brother, after all. I just don't understand it. Why would he say he doesn't trust me?" Musaki said.

"Maybe he got overwhelmed by the fact that you're his long-lost twin brother and didn't know how to react to it." Miko explained.

"How overwhelmed?"

"Like messy overwhelmed."

"I just....never knew that Zeke got abused by his foster father."

"Think it's your parents' fault?" asked Mookie.

Musaki glares at Mookie and said, "No, it's not their fault. I still love them. It's not their fault that they gave up Zeke for another family and only kept me. They're just doing what's right for him. They didn't know that the family they gave him was abusive. But it's still not their fault."

"Hello."

All of a sudden, in comes Shifu and Po walked towards the stadium. They greeted some of Musaki's friends and Musaki as well. Po went to him and asked, "Where's Zeke, Lil' Saki?"

Musaki sighed and said, "He got away from me."

"Why would he run away from you?" asked Shifu.

He was ready to drop the bombshell on Po and Shifu, and he said it with a deep breath and told them, "He said...he doesn't trust me."

There was a long pause for a second and Shifu only said, "What?"

"He doesn't....trust you?" asked Po.

"Yeah, he said it. I'm not sure what to do now."

"He said it. We were there. We're witnesses to the whole thing." Shanghai said.

"Thank you for bringing that up....twice."

"Is there a reason why?" asked Shifu.

"Well, his foster father abused him when he was a baby."

"What?" Po whispered.

"What about his real father?" asked Shifu.

"My parents were born with two fraternal twin pandas, me and Zeke. It seemed as though that they wanted to give Zeke away because they couldn't handle getting twins. They loved Zeke more than anything in the world and would do anything for him and what's best for both of us. So, they ended up giving Zeke away to another family that they wanted to take care of, but it seems as though the foster father didn't care for Zeke that much, so all he did was take his anger out on him for little things. He got beaten, abused and whatever. I think that's why he's always like that." Musaki explained.

"That's sad." whispered Joey.

"I'll say. I still don't think that it's my parents' fault though."

"It wasn't their fault. They still loved Zeke and I bet they still do." Shifu said.

"Yeah, I know they still do."

Musaki looks up at the sky and thinks about his parents. He never knew that he had a twin brother until now. He only knew him in 24 hours and he's still willing to trust him and love him like never before. He looks at Shifu and Po and said, "Think I should talk to him?"

"What does your heart tell you, Musaki?" asked Shifu.

Musaki closed his eyes for a quick second and replied, "I guess show him that I'm always there for him."

"I think he needs someone like you, Lil' Saki." Po said.

"Think so?"

"I know so."

"You're gonna need me to guide him." Shifu said.

"Really?"

"Of course. If I did it for you, I can certainly do it for Zeke."

Musaki chuckled softly and said, "I'm proud to call you my master."

Po, Shifu and Musaki walked out of the stadium and went his way to talk to Zeke and to comfort him. Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Ty, Sonic, Joey, Brian, Mookie and Seth looked at them and see that his friend is gonna trust his brother, no matter what the odds are.

"Wow. I gotta say that is determination." Miko said.

"No wonder why Musaki is like a best friend to us." Shanghai said.

"Think we should follow them?" asked Seth.

They all looked at each other and went running behind them. Joey behind them and tried to catch up with them. He panted and said, "Wait for me! You guys know that I can't run that fast!"

Miko came back and carried Joey towards the steps of the stadium. Joey pants and said, "Thanks, Miko."

"Don't mention it. You could use the exercise." Miko said.

"Exercise is my most hated thing to do."

"Gotta do it in the Jade Palace sometime."

"Oh, joy." he said, sarcastically.

* * *

Wonder what will happen now? Only one way to find out. Keep watching!


	11. Opening Up

This scene will be a little heartwarming and also, we can finally see Zeke opening up to Musaki. And Musaki's gonna share something about his past to Zeke as well. Surprise, surprise, surprise!

* * *

Chapter 11: Opening Up

Back at the bunkhouse, Zeke was sitting in his room, feeling a little bit angry, upset and sad about not trusting Musaki, because he knew he had some trust issues in his life and that he didn't want to trust anybody, even if it means his long-lost brother. It just seems like the world would never understand his life or lack thereof. For him, it just seems hopeless to trust anyone he knows.

He's sitting there in his bed, sighing heavily and looking at the ceiling, hoping that no one can bother him. Then, came two knocks on the door and he grew a little agitated and asked, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Musaki."

He could hear Musaki's voice and he sighed heavily and said, "Go away."

All of a sudden, some rapid knocks on the door made him ticked. He growled angrily and said, "I said go away!"

"That would be me."

When he heard Shifu's stern voice, he got to the ground quickly and opened the door and sees a heated Shifu standing at the door. He said, "Sorry for raising my voice."

"May we come in?"

"Sure."

Shifu came in along with Musaki, Po, Shanghai, Sudoku, Ty, Mookie, Seth, Brian, Miko, Joey and Sonic to his room and he asked, "What do you guys want?"

"We want to talk to you." Po said.

"About what?"

"Lil' Saki told me that you said you don't trust him. Why would you say something like that?"

"I just don't, okay?"

"There has to be some reason. I mean, you've only known the little guy for a day and yet you don't trust him."

"Why are you pressuring me so much?"

"I'm not pressurin' ya. Just wanted to know why."

"I just don't trust him. That's all you can get from me."

It's like this is going nowhere at some point and it's like Musaki is thrown in the crossfire of trust. Musaki looked at him and asked, "Can you at least tell me, though?"

Zeke looked at him and said, "Why?"

"Cause I'm your brother. And I can trust you."

"Why should I trust you?"

Musaki got up and went in front of his face and replied, "Cause I've never trusted anyone before I got adopted here."

Zeke froze for a second, then looked at Musaki and asked, "You had trust issues before? You're joking, right?"

"Not really. See, I was an orphan at Bao Gu Orphanage and I stayed in seculsion for 10 years."

Zeke's eyes widened and said, "That's a long time."

"Yeah, very."

"Well, what happened?"

Musaki was getting ready to tell them the story and turned to everyone else and asked for some privacy. All of them departed out of the room and it was just Musaki and Zeke. Musaki started spilling in everything about his past. He took a deep breath and said, "When I was young, my parents--well, our parents---were dead."

Zeke gasped and couldn't believe what he just heard. Both their parents were killed. He said, "I-- I can't believe what I'm hearing. They're--they're dead?"

"Yep."

"How?"

"Tai Lung killed them."

"That snow leopard who used to be Shifu's student?"

"The same."

"I can't....can't believe it. Our parents...were killed by Tai Lung?"

Musaki nodded his head and Zeke sat down on the ground, not knowing that it actually happened. He asked, "How come I wasn't aware of this?"

"No one knew but me."

"How long ago?"

"Almost 12 years."

"How old were you?"

"Three."

"Oh man. That sucks."

"I know. It just seemed as if my whole world has stopped when they didn't make it. It's like a part of me has gone away and it never came back. After that, some people took me to Bao Gu Orphanage and I was in a deep state of depression and seclusion from anyone in my room for 10 years, because I was in my grieving stage and I never understood death."

Zeke felt really bad about what he said to Musaki about not trusting him and after hearing that their parents were dead, he walked over to him and he could see that his blue eyes matched his brown eyes that they finally have a little common ground.

He said, "I'm sorry that really happened. Did anyone in the orphanage made friends with you?"

"Just barely. I haven't actually made any friends until Shanghai, Sudoku, Ty, Mookie, Seth, Joey, Miko, Sonic and Brian came into my life. We've been friends before they all got adopted. After that, I was back to my depression mode and I got adopted here when I was 13. At first, it was a little scary and somewhat kinda unsure if this was home for me, but as soon as I got to know everyone and what they do, it's like I'm part of a family for the first time."

"Does anyone here really got used to you?"

"Yeah...except for Tigress. And I don't know why though. When she found out that I'm a permanent member here, she was mad about it and tried to kill me."

"What?! She tried to kill you?"

"Yeah. Said I don't belong here and that I should never be part of a family."

At the hallway, most of Musaki's friends couldn't believe what they were hearing about Tigress trying to kill Musaki. Shanghai was the first to feel a sense of fury inside of him.

"Why did that chick try to up and kill our friend? What's her deal?" asked Shanghai.

"It's a long story." Shifu said.

"That bad, huh?" asked Brian.

"Worse." Po answered.

"Did she apologize?" asked Zeke.

"Yeah, she did. But at times, she doesn't think I'm worthy enough to be part of the experience." Musaki answered.

"So what do you do?"

"I don't let her get to me sometimes. I just laugh it off, make jokes about it, just sort of keep my happiness after 10 years of sadness."

"Do you get along with anyone?"

"Mostly, Shifu, Crane, Viper, Mantis and Monkey. But, Po's pretty much the one I get along with the most. He's easier to talk to and could always do something ridiculously stupid to make me feel better. He's like the big brother I never wanted."

Zeke could kinda tell from Musaki's eyes that after a bad situation, he's starting to feel really special with everyone around. Musaki looked at him and said, "At that moment, I learned to trust everyone around me. And they always trust me and forgive me for everything."

"So....do you think they're trustworthy?"

"I know they're trustworthy."

He's kinda understand where he's going with this, because he was a shadow of himself. He looked at Musaki and said, "Maybe I should open up everything about you, maybe you should everything about me, too."

* * *

Zeke is starting to share something to Musaki about his past. Stay tuned for it!


	12. Opening Up, part 2

We pick upm from where we left off when Zeke FINALLY opens up to Musaki. I know, the suspense is killing me as well. Well, the wait is OVER!!!

* * *

Chapter 12: Opening Up, part 2

Musaki had his ears open so that he can hear his brother, Zeke, open up with things from his past. He took a deep breath and breathed heavily with anxiety until Zeke finally breaks his silence about his past.

He told him, "I was very young at some point and I know that our parents had given birth to us and they decided to give one of us up and they kept you and gave me away. But after that, things started to fall apart at the seams. As I was two or three, I've been mentally, physically and verbally abused by my foster father. He would be mad over the slightest little things that I had nothing to do with and would just harm me in every single way."

Musaki's eyes widened and never realized something like this could actually happen to Zeke. He exhaled sharply and never knew what to make of it, but sat there and said, "That's rough."

"I don't know why, though. He said that my face was the burden for his rough days."

"No! Are you serious?!"

"Yeah. And that's not even worse."

"What could be worse?"

"I don't know how to explain this, but--"

Zeke's eyes are starting to get a little misty-eyed and couldn't quite get it out just yet. He tried to find his voice and he told him in a breaking voice, "My foster parents....bring home weapons."

"For what?"

"Obviously, they use it so they can...kill me."

Musaki gasped loudly and covered his mouth and could not believe what he just said. His foster parents owning weapons to even think about killing Zeke. He sat there, fell silent for a while and only said, "Wow. That's rough."

"Yeah. My foster dad could use every single weapon whenever trespassers could break in our house and also use to to kill me."

"What's wrong with this dude?"

"I don't know! He would get so angry with me, he would throw things at me and leave me with only bruises, scars, burns and whatever for no reason at all."

"Did your foster parents did anything....bad?"

"They're drug dealers."

"What?!"

"It's true."

"What kind of drugs would they even sell even when you're in the house where you can't be seen?"

"Crystal meth and marijuana."

"Yikes."

"When they would see me while they're hiding their 'stash', my foster dad would come up to me and just punch me in the face and I end up getting a black eye or something like that. It's unfair to me and I never even did anything wrong."

"Wow. That's hard. Whatever happened to them?"

"One day, I was only three years old, just sitting in my room, feeling completely scared that my dad would harm me again and when he came to my room, he just threw stuff around and sees me scared and one time, he used one of his weapons towards me and try to kill me. He didn't know that the rhino guards were breaking in the house, searching the entire house for proof that they kept some illegal items there and they could their 'stash' in the closet and some dangerous weapons behind there. One guard walked towards the rooms to find what else is there and when he burst in my room, he caught my dad holding a knife directly to my throat and he was shocked to what he saw. My foster dad was busted and one of the others released me from him and one dragged him downstairs and brought both of them outside and took them away. It was just devastating to me that my innocence has gone away because of my foster parents." Zeke explained.

"Oh, man. I'm so sorry to hear that." Musaki said.

"Since then, I had no one to trust and I was only three when that happened. One of the rhinos took me to the Valley of Peace and see if I'm happy there. The people who took me in were really nice. I wasn't sure if they would consider trustworthy, but I'm happy with them. All of them are wolves. It's kinda weird that wolves would take a panda in, but it seems a little cool."

"How are they treating you?"

"They're actually okay. I never actually made any friends since that happened, but often times, every night, I would relive that dreadful moment that happened between me and my abusive foster dad and to this day, it just won't go away."

"Every night, I would often relive that worst case scenario about my parents being killed by Tai Lung and it still hasn't healed my wounds when I was younger because I didn't know how to cope with it. As I said, I never understood what death even means and how that my parents were never coming back. It just pains me so hard."

"So you never made any friends?"

"Mostly, I had only 9 friends at the orphanage, but I was only an outcast. Nobody would care about me."

Zeke puts his paw on Musaki's shoulder and said, "I'm sorry about what happened. If I only knew about what happened to you, I would've shutten everyone else out."

Zeke's brown eyes met Musaki's blue eyes and it seems as though they have a common ground of their past, but in different ways. Musaki and Zeke's bio parents were killed by Tai Lung and Musaki was the only one that witnessed it and Zeke's foster parents were drug dealers and weapon owners and Zeke's foster dad would physically and verbally abuse him and they were arrested when he was three. It seems as though a form of brotherhood was starting to grow.

"Well, I guess I've opened up more that I could ever open up to." Musaki said.

"So have I. I guess that means that we're actually--"

"Brothers."

"Yeah, we are."

"How'd you find out anyway?"

"Well, someone from the Valley of Peace told me about you and that they put a file in the Bao Gu Orphanage and said that I'm your twin brother. They searched our parents' relatives and they said that they were born with twins, which is both me and you. I didn't know anything about it until I came here and saw you for the first time. At first, I didn't believe it, but now seeing you, it's like a part of me wants to actually realize that this is the real thing. I found my twin brother."

Musaki's eyes welled up with tears and so have Zeke's. A few tears were rolling down on Zeke's eyes and said, tearfully, "I found you, Musaki."

Two tears fell down on Musaki's face and said, "I found you too."

Both of them stood up and hugged each other. Zeke was crying on Musaki's shoulder and Musaki cried on Zeke's as couldn't believe that they actually found each other and how amazing it is that in a short amount of time, Musaki finally realized that he's not an only child anymore, but he has a twin and didn't even know about it. They both let go and Musaki said, "This is so far the best day of my life."

"Mine too."

"Even better when I kicked your butt at the training hall this morning."

Zeke laughed while wiping his eyes at that joke. He smiled and told him, "I agree. I'm sorry if I said I didn't trust you. I'm willing to trust you and consider you trustworthy."

"Of course you can trust me. You have to trust the others as well."

Zeke sighed heavily and said, "I'll try."

"Try to take it easy on everyone, okay?"

"Sure thing."

Musaki hugged Zeke one more time and they were both smiling and closed their eyes. All of a sudden, they heard someone crying in the background. They let go and Zeke asked, "Who was that?"

Musaki scoffed and said, "Take a wild guess, dude."

He walked towards the door, opens the door and sees Po crying. Musaki sighed heavily and asked, "Couldn't let it go, right?"

Po looks up and saw Musaki standing there in the door and wiped his eyes and said, "There was something in my eye."

"Liar. You were crying." Shanghai said.

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

Shifu sighed heavily and looked at Musaki and told him, "I saw both of you hug each other. Seems as though you two have found each other."

Musaki smiled happily and looks at Zeke and tells him, "Yeah, we have."

"I'm glad for you. Let me have a little talk with just me and Zeke."

"Of course, master."

Musaki departed out of Zeke's room and saw Po letting down one more tear. He scoffed and said, "Dude, you're pathetic."

"I saw hugging." He said, sing-songy.

"Yeah, we hugged. We're just lucky to find each other, that's all."

Po sighs heavily and looked extremely happy that they're both brothers now. Brian looks at Po and said, "Some Dragon Warrior you are."

"Oh, yeah? Ya wanna feel the thunder?" asked Po.

"I wouldn't even feel the rain."

* * *

Was that cool or what? We finally got to know much about Zeke and he's finally opening up to Musaki. Maybe he can start trusting him. Bet you can't wait for some words of advice from Shifu, right? Stay tuned for the next chapter!


	13. Shifu's Advice

Shifu gives Zeke advice about trust and family. Could be heartwarming...

* * *

Chapter 13: Shifu's Advice

Shifu came into Zeke's room and Zeke felt completely nervous about how is this gonna come up. He looked at him, but he felt like it was time to talk. Zeke tried to say something, but Shifu stopped him in his tracks. He told him, "Do you trust Musaki now?"

"What?" he asked.

"Do you trust your brother now?"

After the conversation he had with Musaki and opening up a little more, he looked at him in the eye and answered, "Yes, I do."

"Good. Do you trust me?"

"I guess."

"Do you trust any of the Five?"

"Well, not yet, but I'm not sure if they trust me back."

Shifu sighed heavily and sat down on the floor with his legs crossed and rubbed his temples a little to try to explain to Zeke about his trust issue. He looked at Zeke and said, "If you want to be well-assured that you're fully comfortable being here with us, you have to believe that we meant that."

"Well, I tried, but I just can't. I mean, I've let my guard down numerous times and I can't make up the mistake that I've made over the years."

"You can't change the past, Zeke. Whatever happened between you and your foster father has happened and you couldn't do anything about it. Is that why you stopped trusting people?"

Zeke was completely unsure how to answer the question, but as soon as he looked at Shifu, he could tell that he's extremely serious. But after what happened a few minutes ago, that question hit him really hard. He took a deep breath and told him, "Ever since my parents were taken to prison, I felt as if I can't count on anyone except the ones that took me in the Valley of Peace. When it comes to making new friends, it's kinda hard for me to deal with the fact that they can actually trust you, but you can't trust them back. So, I always end up hiding myself away from everyone that knows me or tries to know me. I couldn't count on people because I was afraid that something would go wrong and that they have to leave and you never see them again. So, in a way, I have stopped trusting people. Whenever the chance to make friends came through me, I started running away from it. I avoid anyone that tries to be my friend."

Shifu wasn't upset about it, but was a little disappointed at what Zeke just told him. He sighed heavily and said, "This is your problem. You have to get rid of some of your trust issues and count on the ones that really wants to be your friend. I have overheard your conversation with you and Musaki about your past, but you can't make up for what happened. It's not your fault. It's not even your foster father's fault. It is nobody's fault. Just let go of the hurt and sorrown you felt from the past and make room for what happens today."

"I try, but it's just too hard when memories of that keeps coming up. Do you know what it's like to lose the person that you love and has caused you so much hurt and then have nightmares about it? Do you even know what that's like? It is extremely painful to deal with it." Zeke said.

Shifu definitely could tell from Zeke's eyes that it was very familiar to him. He looked at him and said, "Yes, I do. I lost my son. I've trained him so hard to be the best that he could be and that he should get the Dragon Scroll, but Master Oogway told me that his heart was dark and that he shouldn't get the scroll, so he thought it was all for nothing. I've tried everything I could to stop it, but I loved him too much more than anything and I could never repay the damage that I caused. To this day, Tai Lung is and was the one that I could be held responsible for being this way. So, I think I know what that feels like."

Zeke was taken aback from this. Hearing that he actually taught Tai Lung to be what he's already been made him think that he was more than just a former student, he was like a son to him. The son he wished he never wanted because his pride consumed him inside and out. He saw Shifu's eyes and they were glassy-eyed.

"I'm sorry that you lost your son." Zeke whispered.

"It's still my fault though."

"It's not your fault. It's nobody's fault. You just...didn't know he could turn against you."

"That's the point I'm coming across. You can't change the past and make up for it. Life goes on. All you have to do is just move on with your life."

"So, what are you saying, though?"

"What I'm saying is that you have to trust everyone else around you, if you're willing to. If you trust them, they'll trust you back."

Zeke almost understood it. He's been having so many trust issues for so long that it almost seems like a blur in some parts. Dealing with the fact that what happened in the past has happened, he can't go back in time and change it. And also, not to mistrust anyone he sees. He can just believe that he can trust anybody he's with. Thinking about Musaki, he's ready to let the past go and make way for the now. He looked at Shifu and said, "You're right. For a little guy, you're kinda wise. It's just something I needed."

"Don't let my size fool you. I can take anyone down for training." Shifu said.

"I guess I can give Musaki a chance and I can just....move on with my life."

Shifu smiled at him and realized that he's been listening to everything he said. He walked towards him and said, "Happy to hear that. There's a saying that Master Oogway used to say to me-- 'Yesterday is history, tomorrow's a mystery, but today is a gift. That's why they call it the present'."

Shifu walked out of Zeke's room and looked at him and only said, "Just follow your heart."

He left, leaving Zeke to think about giving Musaki and the others a chance. He can still hear Shifu's words echo through his head and it stuck with them. He was more than ready to let Musaki in his life and also to get to know him more and maybe even get along to share his brotherhood.

* * *

That's the best advice that Shifu has given him. Stay tuned for more!


	14. Zeke's Secret

Bet you're gonna be surprised about showing Zeke's hidden talent in this chapter. And at the end of the chapter, expect a special guest coming in.

* * *

Chapter 14: Zeke's Secret

Zeke walked outside to really set his mind on what Master Shifu has told him about letting go of the past and just accepting what is and what was. He sighed heavily and walked across the Jade Palace, only ending up in the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom, where there was no one around.

He sat down near the tree and felt the wind blowing through his fur and feels a little bit of peacefulness inside of him. He keeps thinking about Musaki and how he was willing to give him a chance and give him a chance to trust anyone and also to forgive and forget what happened in the past. When he sees Musaki and Shifu, he could see that he's learning about trust and forgiveness and that he has to learn about it.

He sighed heavily and wonders that there's something in his chest that he needs to let out. He remembers one time writing a song by himself on one of his moments where he realized he had a brother and it was before he came there. He felt the wind blowing through him and started letting everything out of his feelings and just let it go.

_Everybody needs inspiration  
Everybody needs a song  
A beautiful melody  
When the nights are long_

_'cause there is no guarantee  
That this life is easy_

_Yea when my world is falling apart  
When there's no light  
To break up the dark  
That's when I  
I look at you_

_When the waves are flooding the shore  
And I can't find my way home any more  
That's when I  
I look at you_

_When I look at you  
I see forgiveness  
I see the truth  
You love me for who I am  
Like the stars hold the moon  
Right there where they belong  
And I know I'm not alone_

_Yeah when my world is falling apart  
When there's no light  
To break up the dark  
That's when I  
I look at you_

_When the waves are flooding the shore  
And I can't find my way home any more  
That's when I  
I look at you_

_You appear just like a dream to me  
Just like kaleidoscope colors that cover me  
All I need  
Every breath that I breathe  
Don't you know you're beautiful  
Yeah yeah_

_When the waves are flooding the shore  
And I can't find my way home any more  
That's when I  
I look at you_

_I look at you  
Yeah  
Whoa-oh  
You appear just like dream to me_

Everything that was inside of Zeke has been released in song and he lets it out like never before. He breathed deeply and felt the wind blowing through him again and for the first time ever, he felt a sense of peace surrounding him. All of a sudden, he hears someone crying behind him. He turns around and realizes that it's Po, along with Musaki, Crane, Mantis, Monkey, Viper, Shanghai, Sudoku, Mookie, Ty, Sonic, Brian, Joey, Seth, Miko and Shify behind him

Zeke chuckled embarassedly and asked, "How much of that did you actually happen to hear?"

"Just when you started singing the chorus of the song." Musaki answered.

"I've only known you for a day and you never told us you had a singing voice." Crane said.

"Well, sometimes I kept it a secret from everyone I know."

"Zeke! Why keep such an amazing talent from us? It's amazing." Viper said.

"You really think so?"

"You even put Po to tears...again."

Zeke chuckled and said, "Sorry, Po."

Po wiped his eyes twice and said, "I'm only crying because....it's so beautiful with what you just sang."

"Is he always like this?"

"Just barely." Monkey said.

"Don't worry. He always does this after I sing."

All of a sudden, a voice came out of nowhere and it was a white dog with blue eyes, wearing blue jeans and a blue shirt. It came across the way and Musaki was the first to react.

"Hey, Ichi!"

Ichi looked at Musaki and said, "What's going on, buddy?"

"Not much."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait a second. You...know this guy?" asked Mookie.

"Yeah, he's....my best friend."

"Your best....friend?" asked Brian.

"I thought we were your best friends." said Ty.

"You are. It's after you guys were adopted and after I got adopted, Ichi became my friend. We've known each other for so long and we started getting along great and we became....best friends. So, I now have 10 best friends."

"We're cool with that." Shanghai said.

"Really?"

"Hey, any friend of Musaki are friends of ours."

"I agree with you."

Ichi looked at Zeke and he looked kinda like Musaki and he asked, "Who's he?"

Musaki turned his attention to Ichi and looked at Zeke and chuckled embarassed-like and said, "Where are my manners? Ichi, this is Zeke. Zeke, this is Ichi."

"Nice to meet you, Zeke." Ichi said.

"Likewise. This is the first time I've seen a creature like this before." Zeke said.

"Well, don't get used to it."

Ichi turns around and sees everyone else and said, "Hi, guys!"

"Hey, Ichi! How's it going, little bro?" asked Po.

"Going great! Hey, Musaki. How'd you know Zeke?"

"Well, he's my twin brother."

Ichi drops his jaw and asked, "Really?"

"Yep. This is the real thing."

"Wow! That's amazing!"

* * *

Hope klonoakazeno doesn't mind putting Ichi in this story. The song was 'When I Look at You' from Miley Cyrus. Love that song a lot! Stay tuned for more!


	15. Big Discovery

Ichi meets Zeke for the first time. Hope this is supercool!

* * *

Chapter 15: Big Discovery

Ichi looked at Zeke for a while and asked Musaki, "How did this happen exactly?"

"Well, honestly, I never knew I had a twin brother until some of the guards that brought him here that he is, because he was born a few minutes after I was born." Musaki answered.

"Are you guys....twins?"

"Fraternal." Zeke answered.

He looked at Zeke and Musaki and that they don't look anything alike. He chuckled and said, "You guys don't look like twins."

"That's what fraternal means."

"How do you mean exactly?"

"Well, I have blue eyes and he has brown eyes. He has a necklace that says 'Z' and I have mine that says 'M' and we're kinda different in size. I'm a little taller and he's kinda slimming." Musaki said.

"Slimming?"

"Well, you're growing in more ways than one."

"Like how?"

"You've grown taller by two inches."

"Do I look fat?"

"No. Take it up with Po."

"Hey!" Po shouted.

"Well, it's kinda true."

"Zeke is kinda taller and a little thinner and you're more smaller."

"Smaller? That is so not a possibility."

"Just kidding. You're growing a little taller than Zeke, though. He is kinda medium."

"Medium, Po? Is that all you can come up with is medium?" asked Zeke.

"Sorta."

"Anyways, you never told me you had a twin brother." Ichi said.

"It was a surprise to me as well. It only happened since like yesterday and even then, it was a huge surprise to me and it still is. But, I'm starting to get used to it now because he's really cool."

"That's true. I just came over to see you guys and say hi."

"Okay, cool." Po said.

"You know you're always welcome here anytime." Shifu said.

Ichi smiled at Shifu and said, "Thanks, Shifu."

"So, where's Fu and Kaguya anyway?"

"I'm supposed to meet Kaguya at this manga store to check out some new manga books coming out today and we want to be the first ones to pick some of the books up. Fu's coming along because most of them have princesses on them. And you know how much princesses make me puke."

"What's wrong with princess stories?" asked Viper.

"Have you even read them?"

"I used to read some when I was young and it was the best thing to hear--a young girl finding one true love and her knight in shining armor fights a villain to proclaim his love for her and they end up living happily ever after."

"I have no idea what's so special about them anyway, either." Mookie said.

"It's called romance."

"I know romance, but princess stories are so medieval."

"They are not that medieval! I bet you wouldn't last in a medieval world for a day when you read those stories."

"I'm not interested in girlie stories."

"Okay, guys. Let's just freeze, please before we get all medieval/romance debate warfare here. So, what's coming out of this manga store, Ich?"

"They got this new one called, 'Breaking Dawn and Dusk' and it's about this young creature who's half dragon, half panda who has al superpowers and can breathe fire out of his mouth within 25 seconds. He's also different from everyone else, because most of the other dragons don't take him seriously because he's a half-panda as well. But he proves them that there's more than meets the eye when he takes down this dangerous group of white tigers who uses their eyes to fire laser death rays and it's up to this half-panda/half dragon to take him down himself. I've got the details from Kaguya and I have to be there before there's a huge crowd coming in." Ichi explained.

"That sounds like a cool story." Musaki said.

"I know. When me, Kaguya and Fu come for a visit, I'm gonna give you and Zeke a copy of it. Hopefully, you'll enjoy manga."

"I always wanted to know what manga looks like. I've heard about it, but never actually read one of them." Zeke said.

Ichi, Musaki, Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Ty, Sonic, Mookie, Joey, Brian, Seth and Po gasped in shock and exclaimed, "You never read manga before?"

"Never."

"How long does it last, Ichi?" asked Po.

"It only lasts for about a couple of hours, so I gotta be there an hour early before everyone else comes. So, I gotta go. Nice seeing you guys."

"You too." Musaki said.

"Great to meet you, Zeke."

"Same to you."

Ichi quickly sped off to the manga store while the others looked at each other and Shanghai asked Musaki, "So, he's your best friend?"

"Pretty much. But, he'll never replace you guys. He's cool once you get to know him."

"Think so?"

"Of course. I gotta warn you, though--Ichi is kinda different from most of us. Plus, he's not like many of us."

"How do you mean?" asked Zeke.

"Let's just say...you'll be burning up more info about him sooner."

* * *

Zeke will get to know Ichi later in this story. Stay tuned for more of this awesome story! You're gonna love it!


	16. Getting Used To

Getting know Crane and Mantis...could be amazing!

* * *

Chapter 16: Getting Used To

Later on, Zeke walks towards the bunkhouse and he got stopped by Crane and Mantis along the way. Both of them greeted him and he greeted them back as well. Zeke said, "What's up, guys?"

"Not much. We just came over to talk to you for a bit." Crane said.

Zeke was pretty sure that they're cool enough to hang with, so he decided to give them a chance and said, "Okay."

He sat down and Crane sat down also and Mantis was on top of Crane's head and Crane said, "Well, are you used to us yet?"

"I think I'm starting to."

"Come on. We don't bite...much." Mantis said.

Zeke chuckled softly and said, "Well, that's true."

"So, why did you have the trust issue?"

"Well, most of it was dealing with some angst in my past and also some troubled moments. My foster father constant abuses me when I was about a year old."

Crane gasps and said, "You were a year old? That's creepy."

"And scary for me. He would just verbally, mentally and physically abuse me in every single way possible even all the little things that doesn't seem like a big deal is a huge deal from my foster dad."

"Like what?"

"Well, being in their home for one thing and also, when he sees me cry, he beats me up."

"That's guy's a jerk. No offense, though." Mantis said.

"It's cool. He's a jerk as well."

"What made him so crazy?"

"Honestly, both my foster father and mother own dangerous weapons and sell drugs."

Mantis and Crane made an astonished look on their faces after they heard the terms 'weapons and drugs' part. They didn't know how to react to it. They looked at him and Crane asked, "What kind of weapons do they have, though?"

"Guns, knives, swords, pocketknives, poison and whatever."

"Man, that's rough."

"And dare I ask what kind of drugs did they sell?"

"Crystal meth and marijuana."

"Scary." Mantis said, sing-songy.

"So what happened to them?" asked Crane.

"One day, some rhino guards came in and found their 'goodies' and when one went around the house, he caught my foster father holding a knife close to my throat and they arrested both my foster parents. Since then, some of the rhino guards took me to the Valley of Peace where I was taken in by some wolves."

"Wolves?" asked Mantis.

"Yep."

"Isn't that....weird?"

"Sorta, but I kinda got used to it for a while. They actually treat me okay and they're nice to be around and I'm sorta happy with them."

"The Valley of Peace is kinda near to us, right?"

"I think it's closer to the palace." Crane said.

"Anyways, when they told me I had a twin brother, I had no idea what to expect. I never even knew I actually had one until I met Musaki. It's weird knowing that Musaki's parents used to be my real parents and then they died when he was three."

"Musaki's parents meant everything to him. I'm pretty sure that they love you as well."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Musaki has been special to us the past year and a half. He's pretty cool to be around with and we always make him feel better and more at home."

"Is there ever a downside towards him?"

"Not really. The most downside is when Tigress questions Musaki about him being here." Mantis said.

"Does he start it or does she start it?"

"Tigress kinda starts it and never shuts up about it. It irritates the crap out of us and it gets to a point where we have to say, 'Can't you guys get along with each other for once?' and Musaki keeps his mouth shut around her, but all she does is just intimidate him."

"What's her problem, anyway?"

"Your guess is just as good as ours." Crane said.

"Seriously?" asked Zeke.

"Seriously."

"Wow."

"But sometimes, he'd just laugh it off when she tries to insult him and makes jokes as well. It seems ironic, but he's learning."

"Think I'll ever get to like it here?"

"After seeing you do your kung-fu stuff today, what's not to like?"

"Good point."

"Self-taught kung fu has really brought your kung-fu skills here. But Shifu's gonna do everything he can to train you."

"He can?"

"Yep. Expect Shifu to give you some training to do." Mantis said.

"Can't wait. What do you guys do when you're not training?"

"Chores."

Zeke groaned and said, "Chores is my least thing to do."

"Can't escape it. Whatever Master Shifu says, we do it. Even though it's a pain in the neck, we're just helping him out." Crane said.

"Well, I guess if it makes him happy...."

"It will."

Crane and Mantis got up and went back inside, then turned around and looked at Zeke and told him, "That song you sung today, I think you've got a knack for your talents."

Hearing Crane talk about his singing voice about how good it sounded, he turned to them and asked, "You really think so? I wrote the song by myself."

"Musaki writes songs too and also sings it."

Zeke's brown eyes widened and asked, "He does?"

"Yeah, this guy sings really great. He could sing over the Dragon Scroll and it'll still sound good."

"Amazing...."

"But, hey. You and Musaki are gonna catch on getting to know each other and thanks for giving him and us a chance." Mantis said.

Zeke really felt like family and he smiled at both of them and said, "You're welcome."

They both entered the bunkhouse, and Zeke sat there looking at the clouds and the sun roll by, feeling the peaceful tranquility of the afternoon and how amazed he is that he's starting to become part of a family and that Musaki has talent. It's only a matter of time until he finally feels like he can call the Jade Palace his new home.

* * *

He definitely feels acceptance with his new friends, but will one of them accept him? Stay tuned!


	17. Zeke vs Tigress

A little conflict between Tigress and Zeke, but first, Zeke unveils his poetry passion. Made it myself.

* * *

Chapter 17: Zeke vs. Tigress

Not long after conversin' with Crane and Mantis, Zeke stayed in his room, thinking about everything that happened today and yesterday as well, getting used to accepting the fact that Musaki is his twin brother. It's weird for him, but it's a good weird nonetheless. He sighs heavily and sees a sheet of paper and and little pencil in his bag and started writing a little poem.

* * *

_**Looking Through Your Eyes**_

_**It seems a little bit crazy**_

_**Like my mind is getting hazy**_

_**When I see you around**_

_**It's like I can hear a sound**_

_**Never knew about you in years**_

_**But you're the one that understood my fears**_

_**It feels like we really understand**_

_**The same feelings we had**_

_**It's like beneath my face**_

_**My eyes are at a passing glance**_

_**I see another part of me I've never knew**_

_**When there's nothing short of a few**_

_**I have a long lost brother**_

_**No one understands another**_

_**But you're the only one I see **_

_**You share the same feelings with me**_

_**When I see you, I see forgiveness**_

_**I see my life filled with happiness**_

_**I used to be so alone**_

_**In a dark and lonely place on my own**_

_**Then you came around**_

_**And brought me too the light in a single bound**_

_**My tears has turned from sadness to smiles**_

_**When you're looking through my eyes**_

_**Ezekiel "Zeke" Zahou Meng**_

* * *

After releasing all of his feelings on paper with his poems, he took a minute to really reflect on himself and see how he can try his hardest to trust people, especially those around him. It was interrupted by a simple rap at his door. He turned around and asked, "Who is it?"

"Open up."

He could hear someone's voice, and he got up, walked towards the room and when he opens it, he sees that it was only Tigress. He was a little anxious-nervous when he saw her face. He knows that she's getting a little serious at some point and looked a little angry. He chuckled nervously and said, "Is there a problem?"

"You don't belong here." she said.

"What are you talking about?"

She got to his face and said, "You don't belong here at the Jade Palace. If you really think that you're Musaki's twin brother, you're pulling a little trick on us."

Zeke looked confused about the whole 'trick' concept and he didn't quite get the program. He said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Having Musaki is enough, but a twin? If you respect us enough, you'd leave now."

"I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Cause I like it here and everyone else has been cool to me...except you. The only thing I have to do now is just accept it and just try to trust everyone here."

Tigress folded her arms and asked, "Why should you trust us?"

"Because I've had a trust issue and that I needed someone to talk to who can actually help me with my problems."

"Really? Well, here's my advice: If you want to solve our problems, you need to pack your bags and leave here....forever. Cause you don't belong here. I want you gone by morning. And if you think that you're an actual self-taught king fu apprentice, you must be stupid than I ever thought."

"I'm really a self-taught kung fu student. You saw that today. You even said that I was good at it."

"That was a lie. You may be self-taught, but your kind is not good enough here. As I said, you don't belong here and you never will."

Zeke didn't want to hear anymore of this and started walking back to his room, then out of nowhere, Tigress pushed him down hard and he fell down on the floor.

"Owww! What did you do that for?"

Tigress came up towards him and said, "This is for when you're not leaving tomorrow."

"You can't tell me what I can and can't do."

Tigress began to release her claws and planned to scratch him. He scratched his face out and screamed loudly, in pain. All of a sudden, Musaki came running and when he got to Zeke's room, he frantically asked, "I heard screaming. What's going on?"

Then, he looked at Tigress and said, "Oh, Tigress is here."

All of a sudden, Musaki saw Zeke's face scratched up. He dropped his jaw and turned to her and asked, "What did you do?"

"I told him that he should leave tomorrow."

He turned to her and asked, "You said what?"

"It's obvious that he's not really you brother."

"That's a full-blown lie! He's my twin!"

"You've only known him for a day!"

"So? We got to give him a chance here."

"Listen to me, having you here is bad enough. Him? That makes it worse."

Tigress poked at Musaki's shoulder and he didn't like it one bit. He asked, "Who are you to poke me like that?"

"I can do whatever I want. Our lives were good without him around."

"You said the same thing about me when I first came here. Would it kill you give him a chance here?"

"If he stays here, it will tear us all apart."

"It will actually bring us closer. I don't see him being here a problem. He's staying and he's not going anywhere no matter what you say, so get used to it. He's my twin brother and he's family to us."

Tigress felt definitely heated and punched Musaki in the face and fell down hard. She turned to Zeke and said, "You, leave tomorrow!"

"No!"

She growled at him and started to fight him and she came towards him and started beating him up. Zeke was screaming loudly than ever and Musaki tried his best to stop the fight, but Tigress started beating him up and Zeke as well.

All of a sudden, Shanghai came quickly and saw the fight. He came into Zeke's room and screamed, "ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!"

The fight quickly stopped and they saw Shanghai standing there. Musaki sighed in relief and said, "Thank goodness."

"You okay, Saki-man?"

"Not really."

He stood up and he looked pretty banged up and so did Zeke. Shanghai asked, "What is going on here?"

"Tigress is forcing me to leave here and that if I don't, she's gonna make my life miserable." Zeke said.

"If he stays here, what's our future for the Furious Five will be? He doesn't belong here." Tigress said.

"Wrong. He does belong here."

All of them turned around and saw Shifu standing there. He looked at Zeke and that his face was scratched up. He asked, "You okay, Young Zeke?"

Zeke panted heavily and said, "Yeah."

"Shanghai, take him to Po and get him cleaned up."

Zeke went with Shanghai to find Po and to help stop the bleeding on his face and Musaki stood there in front of him and told him, "All I did was stop the fight before she beat me up."

"I understand, Musaki. Can you explain what's going on?"

"Tigress was beating Zeke up."

"May I ask why?"

"He's not his twin brother. He doesn't belong here at the Jade Palace." Tigress said.

"Listen, Master Tigress. We've all known him for a day, but we can help him adjust to life here in the palace. We can't kick him out after living here for a day. We all need to help him out and having him here will not break up the team. He'll be a new addition to it and he can be a part of it." Shifu said.

"He still doesn't belong here."

Shifu grew a bit irritated about it and said, "He's one of us now. I am your master, so I make all the decisions. He stays. Understood?"

Tigress knew that there was no way to get out of this, so she sighed and said, "Yes, Master."

"Good."

Shifu walked out of the room, leaving Tigress and Musaki standing there and he told her, "You got serious problems. Zeke needs us and we need him. Mostly, I think he's family to me."

He walked away from the situation, leaving Tigress thinking about how he will adapt to life in the Palace. She had no choice, but to simply get used to it and also apologize to him about her behavior and that he should not leave. But, she's not sure if she can trust him at all.

* * *

Talk about crazy drama. This is BRUTAL! Will he ever overcome from this? Stay tuned!


	18. Dinner with Zeke

Things are starting to wind down and it's Zeke's first dinner with his new family, alongside Musaki.

* * *

Chapter 18: Dinner with Zeke

The day has starting winding down a bit as the sun starts to set in the Jade Palace. Zeke is sitting in the Sacred Peach Tree, just thinking as he sits down about adjusting to life in the palace. He's faced a lot of ups and downs in his life and in his past as well, but he's starting to feel really lucky about having Musaki as a brother and since he started opening up to him, it's like he can come to him for anything or just to hang out together. Now he's faced with a difficult position--fitting in. He felt a little intimidated towards Tigress, thinking that she wants him gone because she believes that he's not really his brother and that it's all a trick. To him, it's not a trick. He could still hear the voices of Tigress, echo through his mind.

'You don't belong here.'

'You don't belong here at the Jade Palace. If you really think that you're Musaki's twin brother, you're pulling a little trick on us.'

'If you respect us enough, you'd leave now.'

'If you want to solve our problems, you need to pack your bags and leave....forever. I want you gone by morning.'

He still feels a little bit of a fierce scratch from Tigress on his face. His scar has almost faded for a while, but he's starting to wonder will he ever fit in and trust others. He doesn't want to leave it all behind regardless of what Tigress says. It's like a very tough decision whether to stay or to go. He knows he wants to stay and ignore everything Tigress said to him.

"Hey, bro!"

He turns around and sees Musaki walking through the hill, looking happy and all. Zeke smiled a little bit and said, "What's up?"

"Not much. Just hangin'. You?"

"The same."

"Okay. Well, what are you thinking?"

Zeke sighed heavily and scratched his fur, then looked at Musaki and asked, "You think I belong here?"

Musaki knew that the question was gonna be asked in regards between him and Tigress earlier today. He told him, "Dude, I know you belong here with us. What Tigress did to us had no right. She's just not used to others who are kinda shy and a little bit vulnerable. I faced it really hard when I first came here. She didn't want me around, but eventually, she got used to it. I mean, I'm almost 15 and it's close to a year and a half, I think."

"Well, you've been here longer than I have. I've only been here for 24 hours and I just need some help getting used to it." Zeke said.

"Don't worry. You will. Just trust me on this."

Zeke chuckled softly and figured what that meant. He sighs heavily and tolf him, "Okay, I guess I'll give them all a chance."

"All you can do is just try."

"Sure thing."

"Hey, guys."

All of a sudden, they turn around and sees Po walking. They both said 'hi' to him and asked, "What you guys doing?"

"Just talking, watching the sunset." Musaki said.

"Do you always watch the sunset, Musaki?" asked Zeke.

Musaki turned to Zeke and replied, "I watch both the sunset and sunrise. Sunrise is pretty cool because I get to do yoga."

"Yeah, I was never good at yoga." Po said.

"Why wouldn't you be? I don't think your body will take much more of it."

"Hey! Anything you can do, I can do better."

"And then, you'll fall down and land on your fat butt at the same time."

"Very funny, Lil' Saki."

"Don't hate the player, hate the game!"

Zeke chuckled softly and said, "You guys are pretty funny."

"It's like sibling rivalry, only we do it out of brotherly love."

"That's how it goes."

"So, what brings you here?"

"Well, hope you guys are ready for something awesome. Just made some noodles and trust me, you are going to love them."

Musaki sighed contendly and told Zeke, "Po's noodles are supercool."

"He...cooks?"

"Oh, yeah. His dad owns a noodle shop not too far from here."

Zeke was a little skeptical about what would it look like, but he's willing to try it out, just in case. He looked at Po and said, "I think my taste buds are ready for your noodles."

Po was excited about Zeke tasting his noodles. He jumped up and down in excitement and said, "I promise you, it's gonna be awesome!"

Later in the kitchen, Po, Zeke and Musaki went to the bunkhouse and walked to the kitchen, where Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Monkey, Viper and Shifu are all waiting for them to show up. Musaki sat next to Viper and Zeke sat next towards Musaki while Po makes a few bowls of noodles. Most of them were staring at Zeke, which he felt a little nervous and intimidated. He breathed heavily and swallowed hard, because the silence and staring was anticipating.

"So, how's it going, Zeke?" asked Crane.

"Um...fine." he replied, nervously.

"Do not be afraid of us. We're cool." Monkey said, happily.

"You sure?"

"We won't even hurt a fly."

"Actually, Tigress could kill it in 3.2 seconds." Musaki said, softly.

"I heard that!" Tigress exclaimed.

"So what?"

"Okay, you two. That's enough." Shifu said.

"Is there a time where you guys get along?" asked Zeke.

"Several occassions, but mostly, we just like to mess with each other in a playful way." Musaki said.

"What makes you believe that?"

"Mostly, cause you start it."

Shifu sughed heavily and looked at Zeke and told him, "Don't mind them. They're like brother and sister, only in different species. You'll get used to here, Zeke. I can promise you that."

"Okay, they're ready!" Po exclaimed, as he passes down the bowls of noodles to the table.

Zeke saw the bowl and was a little skeptical about seeing how it tastes. He gulps nervously and sees everyone else enjoying it.

"Great one, Po!"

"Awesome, as always."

"I have to say, panda, you've really outdone yourself."

"If my mouth was huge, I would consume this entire bowl."

"How long have you been making stuff like this?"

Po chuckled and said, "Before I met you guys, I worked with my dad in the noodle shop and he's given me the secret ingredient of how it tastes and I've been making this for so long."

Musaki looked at Zeke and looked kinda nervous. He asked, "What's wrong?"

He looked at Musaki and said, "Nothing."

"You haven't even eaten your soup yet."

Zeke sighed nervously and he saw everyone else looking at him and thinking that he can eat the bowl and how it will taste like. He picked up the bowl, picks up the spoon, dips it in there and eats it up. As he was chewing it, he's starting to understand it now. He swallows it and said, "Not bad."

"Huh? Told ya. The awesomeness of the noodles is supergood."

"I gotta say, this is the best thing I've tasted before."

"Told ya so. It's really good. Just have to believe." Musaki said.

* * *

Looks like they're cool with him. Please stay tuned for more!


	19. Getting to Know Zeke

We start to get to know Zeke a little more.

* * *

Chapter 19: Getting to Know Zeke

Zeke had only a few bowls of noodles and it's like he couldn't stop eating them. Musaki looked at him crazy-like when he conusmed every bowl of Po's noodles. He said, "Wow, Zeke. You must really like these noodles."

"Are you kidding? I love it!" Zeke exclaimed, with his mouth full.

He chewed a few bites, swallowed and sighed happily. At that point, he looked at everyone and said, "I think I could get used to this."

"Well, don't expect it. You're only a vistor." Tigress scowled.

"Tigress." Shifu said, sternly.

"Maybe he's busy with something and needs to leave early in the morning for it."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" asked Zeke.

"It means you don't belong here. If you're here to trick us, you're wrong. Because we don't even know why you're here."

"Tigress, please. Don't restart this again." Shifu pleaded.

"Restart what again?" asked Crane.

"Well, Zeke had a fight with Tigress--mainly cause she started it--saying that he doesn't belong here and that he's not really Musaki's brother and that he should leave." Musaki explained.

"Is that your business?" asked Tigress.

"Hey, when something happens to Zeke, that makes it _my _business and Shifu's, as well."

"What did she do?" asked Monkey.

"Beat the crap out him and scratched his face." Mantis answered.

Everyone was surprised at Mantis knowing everything about that conflict between Zeke and Tigress. Shifu asked, "How did you know that happened?"

"I was at my room at some point and I heard arguing and heard sounds of fighting and then, when I opened a little crack on the door, I saw Tigress beating up Zeke and scratching his face and then, Musaki defended him, but she punched him in the face and she fought with both of them and then you stopped the fight and after that, I closed the door without anyone noticing and that was it."

"What's shocking about it is that when you overheard it, why didn't you stop them?"

"I started to, but then I saw you coming, so I thought you should handle it."

"You could've said something." Zeke said.

"I think you owe Zeke an apology, Tigress." said Crane.

She huffed and folded her arms, all stubborn-like and asked, "Why should I apologize to him?"

"If you would spend one day without being a stubborn, heartless piece of cruddy, cruel cold monster that you are, maybe Zeke would be used to you." Musaki said.

Silence fell down very quickly and they couldn't believe what Musaki said to Tigress. Po dropped his jaw and whispered, "Lil' Saki...."

Tigress got up and asked, "What did you say?"

"You heard me."

"I'm not sorry for what I've done to Zeke and I'm happy I did."

Shifu felt like he had had it up to here with Tigress' attitude, so he stood up and grew completely furious and snapped at her, "Tigress! What you did and said was unneccessary and unacceptable! Zeke is one of us now and he's starting to trust us! Either you apologize or you're gonna be doing some extra heavy training. Give him a chance now!"

Tigress looked at Shifu's face and knew that it was serious. She quietly sat down on her seat, turned to Zeke and said, "I'm sorry for what I did and what I said to you earlier."

Zeke blinked his eyes and said, "Apology accepted."

"Now, Musaki. You should apologize for what you just said to her earlier."

"Do I have to?" asked Musaki.

"What do you think?"

Musaki knew that look in Shifu's face and it was a strict one. He sighed and said, "I'm sorry for what I said to you and called you a cruel, cold-hearted monster."

"Your apology is accepted." Tigress said.

"Okay, now can we at least get to know Zeke?" asked Shifu.

"Of course." Viper said.

"So, what do you guys like to know about me?" asked Zeke.

"Well, a few questions come to mind, but I have to ask, did you have parents?" asked Po.

"Well, my parents were also Musaki's parents. We were born fraternal twins, but they gave me up to another family and it wasn't the best family that I was growing up the last threee years of my birth. I was battered, beaten, abused mentally, physically and verbally. Mostly, my foster father pictured me as his favorite target to take his anger out on."

"Your foster father...beat you?" asked Crane.

"Yep."

"That's sad."

"What happened next?" asked Shifu.

"One day, they were hiding crystal meth and marijuana--which they planned to sell for their 'stash'--and a few rhino guards came in and busted only my foster mother for covering the clsoet door and all they found was marijuana, crystal meth and weapons. Then, one guard broke through my room and saw my foster father putting the knife close to my throat and it was ugly. They arrested both of them for possession and selling drugs, weapons and child abuse. One of them asked me if I ever had any family around the area and I said 'no', so they took me to the Valley of Peace, where everything is peaceful and I was taken in by a few wolves."

"Wolves?!" asked Po.

"Don't worry. They're cool with me. It seems weird, but they're kinda nice."

"How did you like the Valley of Peace?" asked Shifu.

"Pretty cool. Though I was living there, I keep thinking about that horrific day in my dreams and I always feel scared that my foster dad would come back for me."

"And do what?" asked Mantis.

Zeke swallowed harder and replied, "Literally kill me."

Viper gasped loudly and said, "We cannot let that happen!"

"Is that why you have trust issues with everyone you meet?" asked Musaki.

"Yeah." he whispered.

"Well, don't you worry about a thing, because if he comes near you, we'll be here!" Po exclaimed.

"You think so?"

"Trust me, Lil' Z! Your foster father is no match for the Dragon Warrior!"

Zeke chuckled and told him, "I have to tell you a secret. I've always idolized you when I first heard you were the Dragon Warrior."

Po was surprised and speechless about hearing the tem 'idolized'. He puts his paw on his chest and asked, "You actually....idolize....me?"

"Of course I do."

He chuckled happily and said, "You don't know how happy this makes me."

"Plus, you just gave me a nickname."

"Well, hey. I call Musaki 'Lil' Saki' all the time, so since you're his twin brother, I can now call you 'Lil' Z.' How does the name fit you?"

Zeke smiled and said, "Fits me well."

"So, what do you do?" asked Tigress.

"Well, I like to write poety and songs."

"Musaki writes songs as well." Shifu said.

Zeke turned to Musaki and looked completely surprised and asked, "You write songs?"

Musaki chuckled nervously about his skills and then said, "And I sing them too."

"Seriously? That's awesome!"

"I don't like to talk about it too much, because it's always been my secret since I was about five."

"What else do you like to do?" asked Mantis.

"I like to look at the sky, play flute, draw and do kung-fu. And I'm also great at truth-or-dare and play games I invent called 'Freeze tag' and 'Guess what I'm thinking'.

"What are they?" asked Musaki.

"Well, 'freeze tag' is basically when you move around or run and when I say 'freeze', they stand still in their position until someone tags them and they move again and 'Guess what I'm thinking' is like a read your mind game to see what the other person is thinking. Mostly, I'm so good with these games, I never lose in every single one of them."

"Must be a challenge." Shifu said.

"Wonder if you guys are up for it."

"Oh, we love challenges. Just tell us when and where we'll do them."

Zeke chuckled mischievously and said, "Bring it on!"

* * *

A little game face for Zeke. Sounds like he's ready to show the others his games. I bet this will be exciting! Stay tuned!


	20. Zeke's Games

Zeke is introducing his game to his new friends. Should be interesting!

* * *

Chapter 20: Zeke's Game

Shortly after dinner, the gang went to Zeke's room to play a little game with him. Zeke looked up and saw them coming in, bringing in their little 'A' game. He chuckled and said, "This looks like you guys are ready to play some of my games."

"We figured that since you told us about them, we thought that maybe you can give us a try." Po said.

Zeke looked in their eyes and noticed that they're ready to take them down a notch with his games. He chuckled maliciously and said, "All right. Let's play some freeze tag."

Everyone cheered and gathered up in a line. Zeke got in front of them and said, "Here are the rules of freeze tag. One player will touch the person and they'll stand in their posture until I say 'unfreeze' and the other person gets freeze tagged as well. One tries to move while staying still gets out of the game."

"Bring it on. I can do this." Musaki said, with confidence.

"All righty then. I'll start off with Musaki."

Zeke touched Musaki's shoulder and he touched his own shoulder and stayed perfectly still for a while. Most of them were marveled by Musaki's stiffness and staying still.

"You know, he would be very good at this." Po whispered.

After 20 seconds, Zeke exclaimed, 'Unfreeze!', and Musaki began to tag someone else, so he touched Po's elbow and then, he raised his arms up in the air on his tip-toes.

"Freeze!" Musaki exclaimed.

Po remained frozen for a while, and after only a couple of seconds, he was starting to struggle with being still for a while. He tried not to move, but it was hard for him not to move around and he was shaking a little bit, like he was nervous about it.

"How much longer?" he asked, gritting his teeth.

"Unfreeze!"

He breathed a heavy sigh of relief and tagged Shifu and he remained frozen as well. Within minutes, they continued with freeze tag for a while until Zeke said, "That was supercool!"

"I didn't know you were so good at freeze tag, Zeke." Mantis said.

"Well, I've had some practice when I was younger."

"I can see that. I was struggling to stay perfectly still." Crane said.

Mantis scoffed and said, "You stuck your foot high in the air and you were so nervous, you couldn't even handle being frozen tagged."

"Hey, at least I'm learning how to."

"Sure you did."

Zeke chuckled softly and turns to everyone and said, "Let's move on to another game; 'Guess what I'm thinking?'"

"All right. How do you play?" asked Viper.

"I walk towards you, look at your head and read what everyone else is thinking."

"Who are you gonna start off with?" asked Musaki.

"I'll start off with you."

"All right, cool."

Zeke went into Musaki and stared directly towards his head and hears his thoughts. Musaki's thoughts were, 'Why do I have a feeling that Zeke is gonna reveal my thoughts? It will be so embarassing to hear what everyone else is thinking about what I was gonna say before I even say it.'

"I see. Well, you won't be embarassed anymore, because I already knew what you were gonna say." Zeke said.

Musaki looked confused and asked, "What was I gonna say?"

"That you didn't want to tell anyone that you had a crush on Viper."

Everyone gasped in shock, especially Viper herself. Musaki's jaw dropped and asked, "How'd you figure that out?"

"Well, I can tell because she's been nice to you."

Viper stared at Musaki and asked, "Is that true? You had a crush on me?"

"When I was a kid and had one of these Furious Five action figures and you were my favorites out of all the others."

"Aww, that's so sweet."

Then, Zeke read Mantis' mind as well. He chirped his antennas, looked completely disgusted about something. Then, he read his thoughts.

'Ugh, sombody give me something to throw up on. This is getting sick.'

"AHA! You said you wanted to throw up after hearing that Musaki has a crush on Viper." Zeke exclaimed.

"Huh?! How did you--"

"He's a mind-reader, Mantis." Crane answered.

'Boy, I think he needs some sleep to catch up what's happening.'

"Wow. That was uncalled for." Zeke said.

"What was uncalled for?"

"Telling Mantis that he needed some sleep."

Mantis was offended by Crane's thought and said, "Why would I need some sleep? I already know what's happening."

"It was just a thought."

'Boys, boys, boys. When will they ever learn?' Tigress thought.

"Hey, that's how we are. Is that an offensive statement you're saying?"

"What offensive statement?" asked Tigress

"That boys will be boys."

Tigress' jaw dropped and she couldn't believe what he just said. She didn't believe that he can actually read minds. She gasped and said, "This is not possible! This cannot be true!"

'Wake up, princess. It is true. I need some bananas.'

"What kind of bananas, Monkey?"

"Well, some ripened ones and something I can find in a tree." Monkey answered.

Then, Monkey paused himself and realizes that it is what he's thinking. He looked at him and Zeke smirked a mischievous look on his face.

'Do you think Musaki likes me?' Viper thought.

"Well, as a sister." Zeke answered.

"A sister? I guess you read my mind, right?" asked Viper.

"Yep. You guys are like brothers and sisters."

'Man, he's getting good. At least he won't hear that I used to pee on myself when I was a kid.' Po thought.

Zeke's jaw dropped and said, "Too much info. You actually...peed yourself?"

Musaki snickered and asked, "What?!"

Po was shocked and embarassed at the same time. He looked around and heard what Zeke asked him and blushed a little. He chuckled embarassedly and asked, "I used to. I was just a kid. I have a little habit."

"And you call yourself a dragon warrior." Musaki said.

"You used to do that?" asked Monkey, suprised.

"When I was a cub. Sometimes, I had a few nightmares or when I hear a scary story, well....I just can't help myself." Po said, embarassedly.

Shifu sighed heavily and rubbed his temples in disgust and nodded his head, and all of a sudden, Zeke hears what Shifu was thinking.

'How can you still wet yourself when you hear something scary? If only Po would be less scared, maybe he wouldn't tell us this secret. It's so embarassing, not to mention more embarassing than never kissing a girl, that's for sure.'

Zeke dropepd his jaw in shock and amazement when he looked at Shifu. Shifu looked at Zeke with that surprised look in his face and asked, "What?"

"I can't believe you!"

"Can't believe what?"

Then, he said it out loud, "You never actually kissed a girl before?!"

All the others fell dead silent and stared at Shifu in surprise and shock at the same time. Po's jaw dropped all the way down to the floor and didn't know what to make of it. He asked, "Is that true?"

Shifu was embarassed to even reply to that and asked, "About what, Po?"

"Never kissing a girl before."

"Who would say something like that?"

"You did." Zeke said.

"When?"

He pointed to his head almost to say that his brain was thinking for him to read his thoughts clearly. Shifu's ears were dropped lower and so did his mouth when he found out that he actually read his mind. All Shifu could so was blush and then told them, "Yes, it's true. I never really kissed a girl before."

"Well, why?" asked Musaki.

"I've been on several dates when I was young and every time a kiss comes, I always get nervous about it and I....chicken out."

"You avoid it?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Wow. That must be personal." Zeke said.

"Very personal."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize."

"Apology accepted."

"So...who won?" asked Crane.

"Well, I invented the game, so I win again. All you guys thoughts are really interesting and some were....weird."

"Isn't it, though?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that was fun and all, but we need to head to bed. We've got some chores to do tomorrow." Shifu said.

"Chores?" asked Zeke.

"Yeah, whenever Shifu doesn't give us heavy training, we have to pitch in and clean up the palace, as well as the bunkhouse." Musaki said.

"Seriously?"

"Don't worry, Lil' Z. It won't be as bad." Po said.

"Yeah, I hope so."

* * *

Amusing, right? Pretty good chapter, right? Stick around for more.


	21. Chores

This next chapter will show Zeke's least favorite thing: chores. There's nothing more boring than that.

* * *

Chapter 21: Chores

The next day, the morning gong sounds and as soon as it went off, everyone got out of the room and said, "Morning, master!"

"Morning, students." Shifu said.

He looked at everyone and realized that they're missing one. He looks at Po, Crane, Mantis, Tigress, Viper, Mantis, Monkey and Musaki standing there except for....

"Where's Zeke?" asked Shifu.

"He might be still sleeping." Musaki said.

Then, a door opens and out comes Zeke, yawning and scratching his back. All of a sudden, he turns around and there's the others staring at him. He gasps silently and chuckled embarassedly and asked, "You guys didn't see that, didn't you?"

"Besides close to scratching your butt?" asked Musaki.

Zeke's eyes widened and said, "I guess you did see that."

"Did you hear the morning gong just now?" asked Shifu.

"I think I have. Sometimes, I have a hard time waking up in the morning."

"How much?"

"I'm sort of a heavy sleeper."

"Well, I hope you rested up really good, because we're doing some chores today." Shifu said.

Zeke groaned softly and knew that this was something he considers the least favorite thing to do during the day, doing chores. He falls in line and gets next to Musaki and can barely look excited about hearing what he has to do.

"Now, I'm assigning you to do some chores, inside and outside as well. So, listen for your duties. Crane, you and Monkey take care of the kitchen, Mantis will handle cleaning in the small areas he can reach, Viper and Tigress will clean the dorm rooms, Po, you sweep the training room floors and Musaki can handle washing the windows, polishing the valuable items in the palace and sweep the hallway floors. Zeke, since you're new here, you can clean up my room."

"I gotta what?" asked Zeke.

"Meet me at my room as soon as possible. I'll show you what to do."

Zeke knew that there was no way out of this one, so he sighed heavily and said, "Okay."

"Does everyone understand what your duties are?"

"Yes, master!" everyone exclaimed.

"Good. I'll be outside with my flute, but I'll check in to see if this is up to its standards. Zeke, come with me."

With that, everyone dispersed to their duties while Zeke walks with Shifu to see what his duties in his room are. A few seconds later, they got to the room and Zeke was amazed to see his room for the first time. Shifu asked, "Pretty big, isn't it?"

"I'll say. This is your sancutary, right?"

"Yes, it is. Now, I'm gonna give you a few things to do. It's nothing difficult. All you have to do is sweep the floors, dust the candle holders and check to see if there are any dried candle wax and polish my flutes. Any questions?"

"Just one. How do you see candle wax?"

"If there's dried candle wax, simply pick it out with your fingers."

"My fingers?"

"It's not that difficult. Just pick them out and put them on this little jar where most dried candle wax go in. Polishing flutes, I keep some wooden flute polish along with the rest of my flutes. The instructions are in the bottle. Speaking of that, gotta pick up one of my flutes."

Shifu walks Zeke to where his flutes are and picks up the dark wooden one and shows himself out. He stops and asked, "Do you understand the instructions I hvae given you?"

"Sorta."

"I keep my brooms near the door and some clean rags for cleaning. If there's any difficulties, just let me know."

"Yes, master."

"I'll go check in on the others and see how they're doing."

With that, Shifu left the room and Zeke was completely irritated to do some of the chores. He was able to get it over with and do it anyway. He sighed and picked up the dust rag and said to himself, "Might as well do this."

He cleared up every candle in the top of the stand and he starts sweeping. A little cloud of dust comes through and he never knew that his room could be dusty. He covered his mouth with his elbow and started coughing and it caught to his nose and sneezed a little. He sighed heavily and said, "This is not fun."

* * *

Meanwhile, back the bunkhouse, Crane was washing the dishes while Monkey wiped the tables and swept the floors. Crane asked, "How you doing back there?"

"Just fine. You?"

"Every bowl is washed and all I got left are plates and spoons. Cannot believe that Po thinks that this is kinda easy."

"He works in a noodle shop. He's supposed to wash dishes and serve and cook noodles at the same time."

Monkey takes a last-minute check to see if the table is polished and sees himself there, which he can tell that it's clean as a whistle. He grabs the broom and sees if there's some dust left and sees a little bit of it and sweeps the small parts of it. He looks around and sees if it's clear and it is clear. He said, "Table and floors are squeaky-clean."

"Almost done with the plates and spoons, thank goodness." Crane said.

A few minutes later, Shifu walks in the kitchen and sees it as clean as a whistle. He takes a look on the floor, puts his finger on the floor to see if there were still dust there, looks at it and nothing is on it. Then, he walks to the table, puts his finger on it, but Monkey stopped him quickly.

"Don't put your finger on it, master. Just used some of that fresh table polish." Monkey explained.

"Right. Sorry. Looks pretty decent, Master Monkey." Shifu said.

"Thank you, master."

Then, he went over to the kitchen sink and sees the bowl, spoons and plates are all squeaky-clean. He looks at Crane and said, "Good job, Master Crane."

"Thank you, Master." Crane said.

"You two did an excellent job on cleaning the kitchen. Head over to the exercise room and see if it needs cleaning."

"Yes, master."

* * *

Back at Shifu's room, Zeke looks at the floor and sees that it's clear and then, sees dried candle wax sticking out. He sighed heavily and tries to pick it out. Picking them out for him was kinda difficult for him to take, but he did what he was supposed to do and one by one, they were taken out and he sees the jar and there are lots of dried candle wax and puts them in there.

Zeke sighed and said, "Okay, got the floors swept and the candle wax picked. What next? Dust off the candle holders. Shouldn't be difficult."

He picks up a rag and polishes all of the candle holders there. He asked himself, "How many candles do Shifu have, anyway?"

"I'm guessing over 90-something candles."

He turns around and sees Musaki coming in. Zeke asked, "What are you doing?"

"Shifu sent me to check on you. Wonders how it looks like."

He comes in and looks at the floors and it is as clean as a whistle, sees the candle holders and they're all dusted off. He looked at Zeke and said, "And you said chores are the least thing you can do."

"The only problem is I do it so well." Zeke said,

"There's nothing wrong with that."

"Try being asked to do chores for 2 hours."

"Oh, believe me, I've done it before. So complicated, but I did it anyway."

"You're lucky."

"Well, I have to get back to the bunkhouse. Already dusted off every valuable item from the Sacred Hall of Warriors inside the palace. I mean, who would've thought that you can actually polish off Master Flying's Rhino Armor anyway and that vase that has the entire Tenshu Army inside there."

Zeke was surprised at how many items that they have there. He asked, "Are those for real?"

"Yeah, they're for real. The most difficult thing to clean was the Invisible Trident of Destiny."

"How can you clean it? It's invisible."

"Your guess is just as good as mine."

Musaki walked off and Zeke sighed heavily and moved on to cleaning the flutes. He looks in this one cupboard and there were 35 different flutes in there.

"What?" he asked softly.

"I gotta polish all this? How many flutes can you polish?"

He picks up this flute polish bottle and read the instructions to see what he does first. He picks up the flute and used one drop of polish in the rag and starts polishing it. After that, he looks at it and sees that it's polished. It was one down and only 34 more to go. He sighed heavily and said, "Why must I do this?"

Shortly after that, Shifu came back in and sees Zeke laying there on the ground. Zeke gets up and sees Shifu there. He said, "Hey, so what's up?"

"I came back to see how you've done." he answered.

He looks at the stand and sees that there's no dust in it and that it's all swept and then, he looks at it again and he can barely see any dried candle wax in there. After that, he sees the candle holders have been polished and then, he looks at all of his flutes and there were all squeaky-clean. He looks at Zeke and said, "I gotta say, this is the best work you've done."

"Chores is pretty much my weakness." Zeke said.

"Well, you can polish one more flute."

He hands over the flute he used and then, polishes it very quickly and all of a sudden, it's squeaky-clean. He was amazed at how he did it and said, "Very quickly."

"Thanks. So...that's it? I'm done?"

"Yep."

Zeke sighed heavily and quickly ran out of the room, just happy as a clam that he was through with doing chores. Shifu stood there and chuckled amused like and said, "Teenagers these days....can't live with them, can't live without them when it comes to chores."

* * *

Zeke is happy that he's through with chores. Stay tuned for more of this cool story!


	22. Things About Ichi

Zeke gets to know about Ichi a little more. Tan-Tan Tanuki, I hope you like this one!

* * *

Chapter 22: Things About Ichi

After Zeke was through with his chores, he was completely relieved that he did all of Shifu's chores in his room. It was a huge struggle, but he got through it anyway. He walks around the palace a bit and then, he sees Musaki along with a few others. He walked towards them and greeted some of them. Musaki turns around and said, "Hey, bro."

"Hey, Saki."

"Hey, Zeke."

Then, Zeke looks down and sees Ichi next to him. He chuckled and said, "Hey, we meet again."

"I see you still remember me." Ichi said.

"How you've been, Ichi?"

"Just fine. Just hanging around with Musaki for a while."

"So, how long have you guys known each other?"

"We've known each other for a year now and we've grown to be really good friends." Musaki said.

"It's weird, but it's like we're brothers in a different species."

"Really?" asked Zeke.

"Well, yeah. Not literally brothers, but we kinda look the part. No offense, though."

"None taken."

"So, where's Fu and Kaguya anyway?" asked Musaki.

"They said they're coming." Ichi replied.

"Who?"

"Well, Kaguya's Ichi's friend and Fu is his fraternal twin sister."

"Is this Kaguya your girlfriend?" asked Zeke.

Ichi chuckled nervously and said, "No. She's just my friend. Nothing more."

"I'm just teasing."

"Oh, good." he said, with a sigh of relief.

"So, did you ever get that manga book yet?"

"Well, I've got it, but it's at home. I bought it for myself and Kaguya and also to you guys as well."

"How did you like it?" asked Musaki.

"Oh, it was awe-some! The best manga I've ever read. I mean, the part where that dragon held his amulet towards the sky and mystical powers come out--totally epic. Pure genius. It was the best book I've ever read."

"I'm thinking that it's an awesome book." Zeke said.

"It is. Maybe I should bring it to you when I visit you guys next time."

"You know, it's funny. In a few weeks, I'll be turning 15 soon."

"So will I." Musaki said.

They both looked at each other and they were shocked to realize that they're both turning 15 coming up soon. Ichi looked at them and said, "You guys are both turning 15 soon?"

"Yeah. How weird is that?" asked Zeke.

"Extremely."

"There you are! We've been walking across these freaking steps to get up here! How come you got there before us?"

Then, all three of them turned around and saw Kaguya standing there, looking totally ticked off, glaring at Ichi angrily, which made him a little bit imtimidated. He rolled his eyes and said, "I told you that I would meet you here as soon as I can."

"We waited in the steps for 15 minutes!" Kaguya exclaimed.

"Hey, Kaguya." Musaki said.

"Hey, Musaki."

"Hi, Kaguya."

"Hey, Musaki."

Then, she stopped and looked at Zeke for a few seconds and looked confused, thinking that it's Musaki. She came closer to him and asked, "Musaki, what's with the brown eyes?"

"Excuse me?"

"Kaguya, it's me, Musaki."

She turned around and sees Musaki's blue eyes and she turned to Zeke and looked at both of them and looked completely shocked and asked, "What the heck is going on here?"

"Um, this is Zeke...my twin brother." Musaki said.

"What?! This is your twin brother? You had a twin brother and didn't even tell me?"

"I just found out, like two days ago."

"Two days ago?! Only two days ago?! How long ago have you even had a twin brother?"

"I didn't know until just two days ago."

"Hey, Kaguya. Chill, okay?" Ichi asked.

"Chill?! Who are you telling me to chill?! Musaki has a freakin' twin brother and forgot to tell me about it!"

Zeke groans softly and asked, "Is she always like this?"

"On simple occasions." Ichi replied.

"Hey, big bro."

Ichi turned around and there's Fu, walking in. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief and said, "I never thought I'd say this, but thank goodness you're here."

"What's going on?"

"Musaki had a twin brother and didn't have the NERVE to tell me about it!" Kaguya exclaimed.

"Musaki has a twin brother? That's cool."

"Long-lost twin brother." Zeke said.

"Long-lost? You mean, you guys never...."

"Nope. Never saw each other after we were born."

"So, you guys are..."

"Back together." Musaki said.

"So, let me get this straight. You guys are twins, but you got separated at birth and then a couple of years later, here you guys are." Kaguya said.

"Yep. That's pretty much it."

"Ohh...well, why didn't you just say that?"

"You were too busy taking it personally."

"I'm sorry. Well, let me start over again. Hi. I'm Kaguya and this is Fu."

"Hi." Fu said.

"Hey, I'm Zeke. I'm Musaki's long-lost twin brother."

"Really? How long have you found each other?"

"Two days."

"Wow, that's amazing."

"Thank goodness." Ichi said, softly.

A few minutes later, Ichi, Musaki and Zeke were hanging around in the Sacred Peach Tree, just talking and looking at the skies. They felt the wind blowing through their fur and felt completely relaxed. Zeke looked at Ichi and asked, "So, you used to live here?"

"Yeah, I have. Nowadays, me and Fu live a few miles away from here with my Uncle Xiamou and his kids. We get along pretty well, simply because they're my cousins."

"How many cousins you have?"

"About 4 or 5, I think."

"That's cool."

"Did you have any parents?"

"Actually, my parents were Musaki's parents. We were both born with the same parents and then, they had to give me up, because having two twins was difficult for them to handle, so they thought it's be better if I was sent to another family in hopes that I can live my life happy and they have....only that family, was anything but happy. I was adopted to foster parents, but it turned dysfunctional, simply because I was the only child there in a dangerous, abusive environment."

"What happened?"

"Well, my foster dad has always taken his anger out on me by just beating me up and what have you and then, he just yells at me, gets really angry with me and I never even did anything to make him mad. I didn't even think of making him mad in the first place. But he didn't care."

Zeke sighed heavily and exhaled sharply, because thinking about it made his eyes water a little bit. He wiped his eyes and said, "It's kinda hard to not think about it without crying. Anyway, the worst possible thing about it is when I was two or three, my foster parents....fill their home with dangerous weapons and they would use it to warn off the intruders and also use it at me."

"For what?"

"I don't really know. My foster dad always threatened me that if I ever show my face towards him or start crying, he would kill me...literally."

"That's terrible."

"It gets worse. They sell crystal meth and marijuana."

"As in...."

"Drugs. Heavy drugs."

"They were drug dealers?"

"Yeah, they were. One day, some rhino guards came in the house and found their 'stash' and weapons and when one of them searched the room, he came to my room and saw my foster dad put a knife towards my throat, in order to kill me and he stopped him and took him down. They arrested both my parents and took them away to jail. That's the day that my innocence has quickly gone away from me after that."

"Where did you go?"

"They took me to the Valley of Peace, where some wolves came and took me in."

"Were they vicious?"

"No, they were nice and kind. It's kinda ironic that I was raised by wolves, but it's better than being at my foster home."

"So, how old were you when that happened?"

"Three."

"Really? Musaki was the same age when he lost his parents."

"I know. He told me about it and I never really got to see them again. I wish I would've though. I've always dreamt about them and what they looked like and how they would see me grow up. Now, it's like I never saw them again because they were dead a long time ago."

"In moments like this, you always seem to think that whatever happens in life, it just takes you by surprise and the people you love, even though you never see them, have all gone away. When my parents died, it was like my life was over in a millisecond. I was so depressed for 10 years after that, because I didn't understand what grieving was. I used to just cry and cry and cry myself to sleep and dream about it every single night. It's like I should've done everything I could to let them live again." Musaki said.

"There was nothing you could've done." Ichi said.

"Yeah, I know." he said, his voice breaking.

"So, did you have any parents?" asked Zeke.

Ichi was pretty scared to tell Zeke the real truth about what happened to his parents, but he looked at Musaki as if to say 'it's gonna be okay'. He took a deep breath, looked Zeke in the eye and said, "No. My parents were dead."

"Really? Who killed them?"

Ichi swallowed hard and said, "I did."

Zeke couldn't believe what he just heard. He turned to him and asked, "You....killed your own parents?"

"Well, I didn't mean to kill them on purpose. Some shadow figure of me burned them in flames and it was after I was born."

"W-Why?"

"I don't know. I-I guess something inside of me snapped and I had this strange cause of me killing both my parents. It's like...I'm a monster."

"Ichi has issues when it comes to his powers and anger. When he first told me that, I was surprised about it. But when I looked in his eyes, I never saw a killer or a monster in him anywhere. I see a person that needs a friend who learns from his mistakes."

Zeke didn't realize that Ichi had such an issue with his anger and losing control of his powers and he did look into his eyes and saw that he wasn't a cold-hearted killer. He just needed a friend that he can actually trust. All he could do was say, "I'm sorry that you lost your parents. I know you didn't mean to kill them, intentionally."

Ichi's eyes were watering and he looked at Zeke and said, "It's okay. I wouldn't mind if you don't want to be my friend."

"What makes you say that?"

"Would you be friends with a killer?"

"Dude, I'd still be friends with you if you weren't. You're not a killer. You're a great person that is surrounded by friends who really care about you."

"You think so?" he asked, tearfully.

"I know so."

Ichi's blue eyes matched Zeke's brown eyes and hugged him tightly. Ichi cried on Zeke's shoulders as he hugged him tightly. Musaki wiped his eyes as well and joined in on the hug. He said, "You know we love you, right?"

"Yeah, I do."

"This is so sweet! Let's join in!"

All of a sudden, Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Joey, Brian, Mookie, Ty, Seth and Sonic all gave them a group hug. Musaki didn't expect it to come, but he was cool with it anyway. They let go for a few seconds and Musaki asked, "How long were you guys standing there?"

"We heard about this little dude's story when we got there and we felt sorry for him." Shanghai said.

"You guys felt...sorry for me?" asked Ichi.

"We're sorry that you lost your parents, even though you killed them, of course." Miko said.

"What Miko wasn't trying to say is, it doesn't matter if you're a killer or not. What matters is that you have awesome friends that care about you and they'll always be here for you." Seth said.

"Isn't that what I was gonna say?"

"No, it was not."

Ichi chuckled and said, "Thanks. Nice to see you guys again."

"Likewise, man." Sudoku said.

"Hey, Ichi."

Kaguya and Fu were walking towards the Sacred Peach Tree of Wisdom and saw Musaki, Ichi and Zeke along with some others. Fu asked, "Who are they?"

"Well, these are my friends from the orphanage; Sudoku, Shanghai, Miko, Brian, Joey, Sonic, Ty, Seth and Mookie. Guys, these arer Fu and Kaguya."

"Hi. Nice to meet you." said Brian.

"Same here." Kaguya said.

"How many friends you got, Musaki?" asked Fu.

"Like, tons." he answered.

"And you say you're an outcast."

"Whatever."

* * *

Was that heartfelt or what? I hope Tan-Tan Tanuki likes this one! Stay tuned for more!


	23. Friendship Emerged

Zeke has a sense that Musaki's friends can be his friends as well.

* * *

Chapter 23: Friendship Emerged

Musaki, Zeke, Ichi, Fu, Kaguya, Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Brian, Joey, Seth, Mookie, Ty and Sonic were all sitting arounf the Sacred Peach Tree, just talking and getting to know each other a little bit more. Musaki looked at all of them and realized that Zeke and Ichi are starting to become really great friends and he only smiled at them for a while.

"So, how come you guys met Musaki?" asked Kaguya.

"Well, we walked past his room once or twice and all I could see is him sitting on the floor in the dark, curled up in a little ball. I could tell that he was really sad and I wanted to comfort him and that's when I first met him at his room." Shanghai explained.

"I was still grieving and it has been difficult to make some friends there, but when I met you guys, it felt like it could last forever." Musaki said.

"And several times, you get back to your room and still grieve."

"I just needed some alone time."

"We all pitched in to comfort him and let him have some fun for a while and feel that he's cool with hanging out with us." Ty said.

"And I think that we've succeeded." Brian said.

"You've succeeded a little, but it kinda helped me out of my depression."

"We just wanted to have some fun with you."

"So, did you guys ever got to be adopted?" asked Kaguya.

"Well, this one family took me, Miko, Shanghai, Brian, Seth, Mookie, Ty, Sonic and Joey in and adopted all of us, because they liked all of us better and thought it would be better if all nine of us got adopted with a family who's got 2 brothers and 3 sisters." Sudoku said.

"What made them adopted al of you guys?"

"Well, they wanted a big family, so we were the perfect fit." Miko said.

"What about Musaki?"

"Musaki was with us and they picked us over him, because they can only handle nine and they're not sure about a panda being a part of it."

"I used to be so upset over this, but one of them told me that they'll always be with me, no matter what and they'll be thinking of me and hope that someday, I'll be adopted by someone who cares for me that much." Musaki explained.

"How old were you when that happened?"

"I was either nine or ten when they got adopted, so I waited and continued sulking for two and half years. Reason why I sulked: loss of confidence and trust about someone taking me in and not sure if one family can deal with me being a gray cloud of depression and grieving."

"Musaki, I can understand your pain. I understand what it feels like when you have trust issues and confidence issues about being adopted to another family, but you just have to believe that no matter what, people will love you." Zeke said.

Musaki felt that it hit home in several ways, because he's been secluded from everyone else in the orphanage and figured that one family will love him. He looks at Zeke and asked, "That's a powerful thought coming from you."

"I had to learn that from my second foster family in the Valley of Peace. Hearing your words really hit home for me and I guess meeting you, it feels like we can actually connect with each other."

"How'd you get to be so wise?"

"I've been hanging around wolves too long. They've been giving me advice and it's like it keeps getting locked in my head."

"Figures."

"Well, it seems as though you guys are starting to become like actual brothers." Ichi said.

"Thanks." Zeke and Musaki said.

"So, how do you like it here?" asked Fu.

"Which one?"

"Zeke."

"Well, it's okay here. I mean, I like it here very much, don't get me wrong. There's a little downside to living here." Zeke said.

"What's that?" asked Mookie.

"Tigress."

"Oh boy. What's wrong now?" asked Shanghai.

"Yesterday, she told that I don't belong here and that I should leave or she'll beat me up. And she actually did beat me up, thinking that I should never belong in the Jade Palace."

"That's her problem. She's just jealous of you." Musaki said.

"What do you mean, her problem?"

"If she ain't used to you being here and doesn't like it, why make it your problem? It's her problem."

"You can't let what she said get to you. You picked a better place here." Kaguya said.

"What are you saying?"

"That's what I want to know." Ichi said.

"What I mean is...who cares what she says? Just don't let it get to you. You do belong here. No matter what she says, this is your home. Just grin and bear it."

Ichi and Musaki were surprised to hear what Kaguya had to say. Ichi stared at her and said, "That's actually good advice."

"Thanks." Kaguya said.

"Normally, you would say things like 'I'm gonna knock some sense into someone' or 'I'd like to see someone say that to my face and I'll have it rearranged.'"

"Well, that's for when it's really personal."

"Ichi!"

All of a sudden, they turn around and Ichi sees Ren walking through the peach tree. Ichi smiled and said, "What's up, cuz?"

"Not much. What about you?" asked Ren.

"Just hanging out with some friends."

"Hi, Ren." Musaki said.

"Hey, Musaki! Long time, no see, my friend. How's it going?"

"Pretty good."

Ren looks at Zeke and feels a twinge of surprise coming at him. He got close to him and sees a little similarity to his face that it's Musaki's. Ren turned his attention to Musaki and asked, "Who's he? He looks like you."

"Well, that's Zeke. He's my fraternal twin brother."

"He's your...twin brother?"

"Yep. Met him two days ago."

"Well, how did it happen exactly?"

"I didn't know I had a twin brother until two days ago that he came and I found out that we were both born with the same parents as twins."

"That's incredible!"

"I know, right?"

Ren quickly turned his attention to Zeke and said, "How are ya? The name's Ren."

"Nice to meet you, Ren. I'm Zeke."

"Likewise."

"And these are my friends--Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Ty, Sonic, Joey, Seth, Mookie and Brian. Guys, this is Ren."

"Hey, what's up?" asked Ren.

"Not much." Mookie said.

"You look different." Brian said.

"I'm a tanuki."

"A what?"

"Warrior, I think." Ichi said.

"How'd you know him?"

"We're cousins."

"Must be nice."

"So, how did you meet Musaki?"

"The Bao Gu Orphanage. We've been friends since he was young and we got adopted before him." Shanghai said.

"Wow. That's amazing."

"How many cousins you have, Ichi?" asked Sudoku.

"I think probably around 5."

"5 cousins? That's a lot!"

"Isn't it, though?"

They kept talking for a long time and just continued hanging out some more. Both Zeke and Musaki realized that their brotherhood will grow more stronger and the same as their bond. Plus, Zeke is beginning to embrace his new family a little more, as well as Musaki's friends.

* * *

Hopefully, Tan-Tan Tanuki, I hope I've done Ren right. Stick around for more awesomeness!


	24. Training with Shifu

Now, we have a Zeke/Shifu moment in kung-fu training.

* * *

Chapter 24: Training with Shifu

A few hours later, Zeke was wandering around the Jade Palace a little bit and when he got to the temple, he sees Shifu standing in the front, looking like something is up. Zeke stared at him and asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"No, Zeke. There's nothing wrong. I've been looking for you." Shifu said.

"Looking for me? What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything. I just thought that since you've taught kung-fu by yourself, I thought that you can do some training with me."

"Training with you?"

"Yes, of course."

"But where?"

"We're heading to the training hall."

Shifu walked past Zeke and all he could do was follow him. When they got to the training hall, they walked past there and kept going. Zeke was confused about where they're actually going. They went out of the palace and walked through the mountains. He turns around and sees they're further away from the palace. Then, he turned his attention to Shifu and asked, "Where are you taking me?"

"You'll see." Shifu answered.

Zeke sighed heavily and just kept going until they came towards a place where it's peaceful and quiet around these parts. He looks around and sees grass blowing through the breeze and the wind blowing softly. Then, Shifu got in front of him and Zeke finally asked, "Where are we?"

"Have you ever heard of Master Oogway?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Come with me."

Zeke was starting to feel a little agitated about where they're going and all he could do is follow him to where they're going. All of a sudden, they came across a river. When they stopped, Zeke stared at a river and was not completely expecting that to come. He turned to him and asked, "You're taking me on a river?"

"It's not just a river. This place is the Pool of Sacred Tears." Shifu said.

"The Pool of Sacred Tears? You mean..."

"Oogway unraveled the mysteries of harmony and focus a long time ago and this is forever known as the birthplace of kung fu."

Zeke's eyes widened as soon as Shifu heard that Oogway discovered the Pool of Sacred Tears as the birthplace of kung fu. He was completely overjoyed with the entire ordeal and told him, "If you knew this is where I'm gonna be training in, why didn't you say something before?"

"I wanted to keep it a surprise for you."

"Well, I'm plenty suprised and....and speechless. I mean, I-- I don't even know what to say or think."

"Do you want to do some training?"

"Oh, are you kidding? Let's do this!"

"You're starting to sound like Po."

Not long, Shifu stood in front of him, doing a kung-fu move, which he spins around with his feet soaring in the air and spinning around with his hand in the air and his fists balled up. Zeke was amazed by what he saw and that he could use it sometime.

He looked at Zeke and said, "Now you try."

Zeke repeated the process that he did, but made his own improvisational moves on it. He spun around, does a backflip and twirls back down to the ground and lifted his arms and elbows towards his side and clutched it in together. Shifu looked at him and said, "Not bad. A little rusty, but excellent nonetheless."

"There's a 'but' coming in, isn't it?"

"Pretty much. I think you could do better."

"Like what?"

Shifu gave him some complete and total training for Zeke. He had to exercise a little, like some push-ups, sit ups and more kung-fu mastery. Zeke had to use some defense moves of his own with Shifu's training combined. Whatever moves he made, he imitated them and made it into his own.

Zeke stood next to Shifu and Shifu told him, "Repeat what I do."

He crossed his legs and Zeke followed suit and then, he raises his fists and clutched them towards his side and then, twirls around and raises one hand on the air and another on the side and then, turns to the right and to the left as if doing a dance routine. They crouch down and leaped up in the air, thus spinning around with one leg kicked up in the air. Shifu brought in his staff and planned to use it to dodge being hit. Zeke used his hands and legs to avoid being hit by the staff, thus doing it well. He leaps up in the air and does a backflip and quickly got back down to the ground.

Shifu was further away through the rocks and he said, "It's all you! Make your own moves!"

Zeke nodded his head and attempted to do every single moves that he got on his sleeve. He does a 360-end over and did a backflip in the air with his leg raising up the air with a swift kick move. He quickly came back down to the ground, started running and also did a jump-spin around move as well as using his fist to add to the moves. He taught what Shifu has learned and emulated it as well. He ran towards him, does a backflip and then, raises one hand in the air and another on the side and then, strikes him down, which causes Shifu to fight back. He grabbed his hands and then flipped it across the ground, but Zeke was too quick to stop him. He grabbed him by the right ankle and pinned him to the ground. Shifu chuckled softly and grabbed him by the hand and pins him as well.

Zeke chuckled mischievously and grabbed his hand and flips him down the ground. He gets up and asked, "How you like me now?"

Both of them were panting and Shifu was amazingly impressed with his moves. Shifu got up and said, "Very nice. I gotta say, you learned from me very quickly."

"That's because you taught me everything."

Shifu chuckled softly and said, "Yes, I did."

"Master."

He puts his fist on his hand and Shifu did as well and bowed to each other for respect. Zeke definitely feels as if he can now trust Shifu now and that he liked having him as a mentor. He looked at him and asked, "Wanna head back to the palace?"

"Yeah."

Back at the Jade Palace, Shifu and Zeke were returning from the Pool of Sacred Tears after some insane training, which was worth it for Zeke. Shifu looked at him and said, "You've done well, Ezekiel."

"I think I've done more that well. I've done awesome!" Zeke exclaimed.

"Now you're really starting to sound like Po." he said, agitated.

"Sorry. So embarassed right now."

"Don't be. I do agree highly that you have done awesome."

Zeke was surprised that it just came out of Shifu's mouth. He couldn't believe it either and said, "I have got to stop saying that. Now, I'm starting to sound like Po."

"Well, hey. We've got his Dragon Warrior contagious coming through us."

"As in..."

"Awesome-itis."

Both Shifu and Zeke burst out laughing as soon as they were walking. They were joking around a little bit and talking all the way. Shifu said, "You remind me of Musaki a lot. I'm hoping that one day you two will actually do some training with me."

"Think Musaki would like it?" asked Zeke.

"I'm pretty sure he'll love it."

"That way, the three of us can bond more."

"Spoken like a true warrior."

"I learned from you, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did."

Both of them walked the way to the bunkhouse and continued talking all the way in. They were unaware that Tigress was there, overhearing their conversation and she was completely mad about Zeke hanging out with Shifu. She started seething and she was totally furious at Zeke for training with Shifu without her knowing it. She storms off to the training hall to take out some of her anger, but when she sees Musaki coming through, she pushed him down the ground hard and continued walking.

Musaki didn't expect that to happen and asked, "Seriously? What was that for?"

She stops, turns around and said, "This is for knowing your brother!"

Then, she kicked him in the stomach harder. He groaned in agony and said, "What was that for, everything else?"

"No. Because you and Zeke have the same thing in common--stealing Shifu away."

"What are you talking about?"

"If your brother thinks that he can spend time with Shifu, he's got another thing coming! I want him gone!"

Then, after that, she stormed off and left without saying a word to Musaki. He watched her go to the training hall and pushed the door open and thinking to himself, "What is wrong with that chick?"

He gets up and groans in pain as he walks towards the bunkhouse to get some rest. As he got there, he sees Zeke and Shifu, sitting in the kitchen, just talking and he caught their attention. Zeke asked, "Hey, Musaki. What's wrong?"

"Tigress pushed me down and she kicked me."

"When?" asked Shifu.

"Just now."

"Did you say anything to her?"

"Of course not. Not this time. She pushed me down for no reason given. I think she was upset thinking that Zeke is stealing you from her or something like that."

Zeke completely felt bad about it and never realized how upset she might have seemed. He sighed heavily and asked, "Where is she?"

"Training hall."

Zeke got up for a sec, exited out of the kitchen and went to the training hall to talk to Tigress. Musaki sighed heavily and turned to Shifu and said, with an agonizing voice, "I'll be in my room, taking a nap."

Shifu sighed heavily and rubbed his temples, never knowing that Tigress would be upset with such a big ordeal about it. Something tells him that she still doesn't trust him and doesn't like him being here. He closed his eyes and asked, "Master Oogway, what should I do now? How can I make Zeke feel that he's welcome here? I need your guidance, your wisdom and your advice. What should I do?"

He feels as if it would be a lot easier if Oogway was around to handle problems like this. He was willing to do everything he could do to make Zeke feel like he feels trusted here and that he does belong here.

* * *

Tigress did it again! What is wrong with her? Why can't she just deal with Zeke being here? This next chapter will be an answer chapter.


	25. Truce

We pick up from where we left off.

* * *

Chapter 25: Truce

Zeke walked towards the training hall, where he heard some loud grunts and poundings coming through the room. He peeked at the door and saw Tigress punching and kicking a punching bag. He could tell that she was really angry at Zeke. He was terrified to figure out what she was gonna say to her and to call a truce between the two, but knowing her, she would eventually reject his apology and tell him to his face that he doesn't belong.

He sighed heavily and took a deep breath to shake out all of the nerves out and slowly opened the doors, hoping that she won't notice. He quietly came in the front of the door and entered while Tigress was busy taking her anger out on a punching bag. He grew even more nervous by the second when he saw her pounding it really hard.

A sudden creak on the floor caught Tigress' attention and turned around and saw Zeke behind her. She huffed at him and continued with what she was doing. She then asked, "What do you want?"

"Musaki told me that you beat him down because of me." Zeke said, nervously.

"Listen, if you think you can just steal Shifu away from me, you're wrong."

"Are you kidding me? I could never steal Shifu away from you. He only took me to the Pool of Sacred Tears to do some training."

She continued punching and told him, "I have told you times before that you do not belong here and you never will."

"You know you're wrong, right? I've only been here for two days and you think that I came here to steal Shifu away from you? That's not my intention."

"Why does he like you better than most of us?"

Zeke was confused at that question and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Don't act like you don't know! Po, Shifu and the rest like you more and you try to steal that bond way from me."

"Are you....jealous of me?"

"That is none of your business."

"I was just asking. It's just that....I don't know. They're like my own family. The ones I never had before. It just feels like I'm a part of it."

Tigress finally snapped and punched the punching bag hard at the wall and turned to Zeke and snarled at him, then she pounced at him, grabbed him by the throat and said, "Shifu spends more time with you because you're Musaki's twin brother! All the others were accepting you being here and they say that you belong here. Well, I don't! You will never belong and never will! It's like they like you because they feel sorry for you because of your tragic past and like nothing really matters!"

She lets him go and falls down the floor hard and she walks off. Zeke blinked his eyes and said, "You're right."

She suddenly stops and then, turns to him with no anger on her face and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Some parts about not belonging here are not true, but they like me because of my past and they wanted me to feel like family. If I stole any attention from them away from you, I'm sorry. And I'm sorry for even being here in the first place. But, I do belong here because I've never had a family like that besides my second foster parents. I just had a rough past and an abusive place with my first foster parents, but I guess it seems as though it doesn't matter to you because I've been taking too much time with Shifu and the others. Sorry I bothered you."

Tigress' face suddenly softened a bit abfter hearing what Zeke had to say and she stopped him. She said to him, "No, don't apologize. I should apologize to you. I shouldn't have told you that you don't belong here. I never knew that you used to live in an abusive home when you were younger."

Zeke looked at her in the eye and said, "You kinda hurt my feelings since I've been here."

"Look, maybe we got off on the wrong foot. The reason why I said those things is because I didn't trust you."

"You don't trust me?"

"No. So, I guess we both have trust issues."

"No kidding."

"Zeke, I was wrong with what you said. You do belong here."

That made Zeke's heart light up a bit and smiled a little. He took out his hand and asked, "Wanna call a truce?"

She looked at his hand and realized that if he wants to feel like family, she should respect him and also treat him like one of them. Then, she shook his hand and it started to feel like they're starting a truce.

Zeke chuckled and said, "Thanks for giving me a chance."

"Don't mention it."

All of a sudden, they heard a voice come in and said, "That's so sweet! You guys need a hug!"

Then, they turned around and saw Po coming from out of nowhere and then, gave both them a huge hug and he held on to them tightly, which caused both of them struggling for air. Tigress said, "Po, please get off us, otherwise I might claw your tail."

He quickly lets go and they were both gasping for air. Po chuckled embarassedly and said, "Sorry, but when I see a moment like this, I can't help myself."

They looked at him and Zeke asked, "How do you live with this guy?"

"I was asking myself the same question."

* * *

They finnaly broke the ice. Hopefully, she might find Zeke trustworthy and that he does belong here. Stay tuned for more of this awesome story!


	26. Brotherhood Training

Sorry about the long wait. Musaki and Zeke are training together. Pretty cool!

* * *

Chapter 26: Brotherhood Training

The next day, Musaki and Zeke were outside on the Valley of Peace along with Shifu to do some training skills.

Shifu stood before them and explained, "Today, you will learn on teamwork. It revolves around two people and how you can rely on each other as your team."

"What do we have to do?" asked Musaki.

"We'll do some training and go through the steps on relying on each other and bridge trust with each other."

That word struck Zeke down quickly and realizes what it meant by the word 'trust'. He looks at Shifu and asked, "Are they any examples?"

"I will tell you those examples while we get some training together."

Musaki looks at Zeke with a smile and said, "This will be a great experience."

"I hope so."

"It will. Just believe me on this."

"Now, let us begin."

Shifu does a kung-fu move where he takes down both brothers, but Musaki proves that he's too quick for him, as he uses his anti-gravity lean to lean backwards, which causes Shifu to miss and lands on the ground. Zeke was astonished by his kung-fu movement and he asked, "How did you do that?"

"Practice."

Then, Shifu turns around and aims for Zeke as he jumps on top of him, but Zeke knows his movements and grabbed him by the ankle and throws him down to the ground, beating him to it. Then, he kicks him in the air and Shifu landed on his feet back to the ground again.

Zeke was suprised about his own movements he did and became overjoyed in the process. He chuckled a little and said, "Didn't know I had it in me."

"That what's supposed to happen--for the first timers and self taught students who were training with me, you expect this feeling you have. A new form for yourself in kung-fu training."

"What he's saying is, you've made some serious process." Musaki said.

"Wow. Amazing."

"Isn't it, though?"

"Now, I would like to see you both take me down." Shifu said.

Both their eyes widened and realized that this is their second opportunity to take down Shifu together. Musaki asked, "You up for this?"

"If you're into it, I am." Zeke said.

"Let's do this!"

Both of them put their game faces on as they look at Shifu and run towards him to take him down. They jump in the air and both of them kicked him, but Shifu grabs them both, rolls them across and slams them down. But they both got up very quickly and swipes him with their hands and legs while Shifu holds out a staff. Musaki brings his sais with him and both weapons draw closer to each other. Zeke was completely surprised about Musaki bringing a sai and brought in his nunchuks with them.

"Zeke!"

He swirls his nunchunks around, charges at Shifu as both the staff and nunchuks were going at each other and Musaki steps in with his sais and kicks him in the back. Shifu turns around and sees Musaki charging in with his sais and smirks a mischievous smile and strikes him down a notch with a few punches, but Musaki grabbed his hand before it could reach his shoulder.

"I don't think so. Zeke, find an area where his weakness can spot him."

"What am I supposed to do?" Zeke asked.

Musaki smirked a mischievous smirk and asked, "How good are you at tickling anyone you know?"

Shifu was completely shocked to hear that Zeke is gonna tickle him. He said, "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, would I? Do it!"

Zeke wiggled his fingers and tickled his side, which made him laugh uncontrollably and Musaki goes in for the stomach and Shifu keeps laughing hysterically and they both looked at each other, nodded their heads and threw him up in the air and they both rise up and Musaki swats him with his foot and Zeke knocks him down with his fist and he falls back down to the ground, same as Musaki and Zeke.

He stood up in front of them and an impressed look on his face starts to show a little bit. He said, "Very impressive. This is how it takes on teamwork."

"So, how'd we do?" asked Zeke.

"You've both done exceedingly well. Now, I will show you a few exercises on how to rely on your partner."

"I knew this part was gonna come in."

"Well, I'm not surprised. You've been here for three days now and when you learn with Shifu, anything's possible." Musaki said.

"Now, both of you do what I do."

They look an observe Shifu doing tai chi by moving his hands slowly and body around. Both of them put their feet apart and repeated what Shifu does and emulate it.

"Good. Now, we're gonna do a simple task--to make sure you trust your partner, you must simply catch them when they fall."

"How do you do that?" asked Zeke.

"Musaki and I will demonstrate for you."

Shifu goes behind Musaki as he falls down, but Musaki picks him up by holding his arms. Zeke is starting to understand how it works and Shifu asks Zeke is to give it a try. Musaki got behind Zeke and starts to fall down, but quickly picks him up anyway. Musaki looks at him and says, "Now you got it. It all requires balance, strength and also form trust as well."

"You learn in the process, right?" asked Zeke.

"Yes you do. Now, it's your turn."

Both of them switch places and Zeke got behind Musaki and he starts to fall down and Musaki quickly catches him in a few seconds. Zeke chuckled softly and said, "You caught me."

"Of course. It's something you have to do, if you want to rely on us." Musaki said.

"Next thing is to see through someone's eyes. Just look at each other for a minute and see what you both are thinking and feeling." Shifu said.

Both Musaki and Zeke looked at each other in the eyes. For a couple of seconds, Musaki looked into Zeke's brown eyes and Zeke staring at Musaki's blue eyes and both of them have a similar connection to the point that no only they're like friends, they're actually starting to become brothers. Zeke is thinking that he feels happy with Musaki and Musaki feels happy along with Zeke and both of them are thinking how lucky they are to have each other.

"So, what do you see?"

"I see my brother for the first time as not only a person, but a part of my family." Musaki said.

"Zeke?"

"I see Musaki like a good friend and is really cool to be around and I can feel comfortable knowing that I have him on my side." Zeke answered.

"You really think so?"

"I know so."

"Amazing. Just three days you went from non-trusting to actually feeling like you're one of us."

"Well, it's because of you guys that I can learn to rely on someone and trust the person."

"That's what it's all about and that's what's important. We're more than just kung-fu masters, we're family." Shifu said.

"That's the important thing throughout living here."

"Hey, Master Shifu!"

A voice comes out of nowhere and in flies Zeng, landing down to the ground. He gets up and looks at him in the eye and Shifu asked, "What's the news, Zeng?"

Zeng tries to catch his breath and starts shaking a little bit. Then, he said it nervously, "This is huge news."

"Is it good or bad?" asked Musaki.

"Very serious news, unfortunately."

"What's the serious news?"

"Which one of you is Zeke?"

All of a sudden, Zeke's heart sank to the bottom and he knew for a quick second that this is not gonna be good news at all.

* * *

Oh, man. This is gonna get serious! Stay tuned!


	27. Serious News

This is where it gets REALLY serious....

* * *

Chapter 27: Serious News

Zeke stepped from behind Musaki and got in front of Shifu after he heard Zeng calling out his name. Zeng looked at Zeke and said, "I'm Zeke."

He looked at him for a quick second and then, looked at Musaki for a while and Musaki ended up waving at him. He looked at Zeke and then at Musaki again and that really freaked him out. He asked, "How did this happen?!"

"Well, they're twins." Shifu said.

Zeng looked at both of them and their eyes are different from them. He said, "They have different eyes."

"Well, mine's blue and his is brown." Musaki explained.

"How old are you boys?" asked Zeng.

"14." they both, replied.

"What did you need from Zeke, Zeng?" asked Shifu.

Zeng realized that he did come here for something and just brought in a message and gave it to Master Shifu and it reads;

'This is Commander Vachir from Chor-Gom prison. We heard that you've taken Zeke in, but unfortunately, Zeke's foster father has burst out of prison with weapons and he screamed out loud, 'Zeke, I'm coming back for you and this time, I will continue with what I started when you were three.' About his foster mother, she committed suicide years ago and his foster dad thinks that the suicide was all Zeke's fault and for that, he's gonna quote, 'pay the piper'. He says he's coming to where he lives and our army guards will stop him. I've got half of my army looking for him and we figured that you might stop him before he kills Zeke. Take extreme caution. It's very dangerous.'

After reading the letter, Shifu looked distraught for a quick second and then, looks at Zeke and he seems him trembling to know that his nightmares was coming close to a reality. Zeke sighed heavily and said, "I knew this would happen. I am so dead."

"Don't say that." Musaki said.

"What else am I supposed to say? My foster dad is gonna kill me! And he's coming back for me!"

"Zeke, maintain yourself." Shifu said.

"How? How can you tell me to maintain myself when my foster dad is coming to kill me?! How can you tell me that?!"

"Calm yourself down now!" Shifu shouted.

Zeke was breathing heavily and kept himself quiet for a while. Shifu stared at him and turned his attention to Zeng and said, "Thank you, Zeng."

"You're welcome, master."

"Well, what do we do now?" asked Musaki.

"We might as well do something unprecedented--confront him."

Zeke, Musaki and Zeng turned their heads to him and all asked, "Confront him?"

"Yes, we should. If it's a fight he wants, then it's a fight he gets."

"Master Shifu! Do you know what you're saying? I don't mean to question you, but do you even have the slightest clue on what you're up against? He might try to kill you." Zeng said.

Shifu turned to Zeng and said, "I am more than willing to lay my life for Zeke."

"If you have to fight this dude, you can't do this alone. If anyone's gonna fight for Zeke, it's gonna be me." Musaki said.

Zeke turned around and told Musaki, "Are you serious? You're gonna fight my foster dad? Do you even know what he tried to do to me?"

"Yes we have. But I'm not gonna sit there and let him lay a finger on you. Not when I'm around."

"Sounds like you're taking a sacrifice." Shifu said.

"We're a team, right?"

"I just hope you both know what you're doing." Zeng said, worriedly.

"That will be all, Zeng."

With that, Zeng flew away, leaving all three standing there, looking serious. Shifu looks at Zeke an Musaki and said, "I'll warn the others."

Shifu walks out and Zeke asked, "So, training's over?"

"Postponed until the fight is finished."

Zeke feels completely scared about what's gonna happen next now that his foster father is released from prison and looks as if this is gonna be terrible for him. Musaki looks at him and tries to comfort him, but Zeke ends up shoving him away and runs away from him.

Musaki felt as if Zeke is taking this news really hard and needs some comforting, to know that he's here for him.

A few minutes later, Musaki finds Zeke in his room, curled up in a little ball, crying on the wall. He slowly opens the door and enters the room anyway and sits down on the edge of his bed. He takes a deep breath and said, "I know how upset you are."

"Why would you do that?" asked Zeke.

"Do what?"

"Give up your life to save me?"

"The same thing happen to you once, but if he tries to get you, he'll have to get past me."

"He's dangerous. I just don't want to lose you!"

"You'll never lose me."

"How? How can you be so sure?"

It feels as if they're back where they started from, but Musaki puts his hand on his shoulder and said, "Because you're my brother and I'm willing to do whatever I can to protect you and to show that I care for you and that you would feel loved."

A tear fell through Zeke's face and he looks at him in the eye as a sign that says, 'Nobody's gonna die because we will fight this war, no matter what and we'll be here for you'. He read his eyes very well and soon enough, he confided his trust in him and believes it.

"Just trust me that I will protect you."

Zeke blinked his eyes twice and wiped his eyes and said, "Okay."

"You just have to believe that it can happen."

"You know, I do believe you. But there's one thing."

"What's that?"

"I don't want to live in fear of my abusive foster dad anymore. I wanna fight him back too."

Musaki's eyes widened with surprise and asked, "You are?"

"Yeah. I've been living in fear for a long time and it's time for me to confront my fears and fight them head-on. Because of Shifu's training and all, I feel like I can do anything to make me feel...invincible. With you guys around, I feel like you're my shield of armor that protects me."

Musaki smiled at him and said, "That's the best thing I've heard you say."

"I wanna fight my foster dad."

"Well, you won't do it without us."

Musaki and Zeke turned around and saw Po, Shifu, Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Crane, Viper, Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Joey, Brian, Ty, Sonic, Mookie, Seth, Ichi, Kaguya, Fu and Ren in the front of the door, looking confident and ready to fight.

"You guys are....gonna fight with me?"

"We're family and a family that kicks extreme butt together stays together!" Po exclaimed.

"What he said." Tigress said.

"Like we said, any brother of Musaki's is a brother of ours." Shanghai said.

"I've only known you for two days and I'm ready to fight for you." Ichi said.

"You guys...really mean it?"

"Hey, if you can rely on us, anything is possible." Mantis said.

"See, we all care about you and are will to fight for you because we love you." Shifu said.

That kind of moment filled Zeke's eyes with tears a little bit. He smiled at them and said, "Thank you. Thank you all."

"We head out in the morning."

"Are you up for it?" asked Musaki.

He looked extremely confident that he's throwing all of his fears about his abusive foster father and ready to fight him back and said, "I am ready to feel the thunder."

"That's what I'm talking about!" Po exclaimed.

"Someone's a fan of the Dragon Warrior." Monkey said.

"Figures." Miko said.

"I think he is ready to fight. All he needed is support and believing that he can fight." Shifu said.

"And training."

"That too."

"Thank you for your teachings....master."

"Yes, I have taught you well."

Zeke bowed to Shifu and the others bowed to him as well and at that point, Zeke can finally trust his family and that the fears of his abusive foster father has faded away quickly than ever. He's more than ready to confront his fears face to face, because with family and friends around, anything is possible.

* * *

Pretty powerful and strong. Zeke definitely feels like he's ready for anything. The war is coming up!


	28. Ready to Fight

The war is finally here! And we brought in a special guest with us. Joe 'Po' Navark, this is for you.

* * *

Chapter 28: Ready to Fight

The next morning, Zeke stood on the front of the bunkhouse, just looking forward to day that he must confront the fears that he has been living in for so long--his abusive foster dad. He's endured his abuse since he was a year and a half and had nightmares about it, which was the cause of not trusting anybody. Now, overhearing that he's coming back for him, it seems as though he's not gonna live in fear anymore and that he must fight for himself and for his family with the help of Musaki.

He stands there, looks at the sky and looked incredibly serious for a while, waiting on the others to endure on this journey. He picks up his green and red bandana, wraps it around his head and feels the wind blowing through his fur, like a real warrior.

The door opens and out comes Musaki, wearing his blue and green bandana as well. He looks at Zeke and sees him wearing the bandana. He chuckled and said, "I think our bandanas are mismatched."

Zeke chuckled and said, "Does that consider a fashion arrest?"

"Well no. It does fit your style, though."

Zeke smiled a little and stared at Musaki for a few seconds and Musaki sighed heavily and asked, "Are you sure you're up for this?"

"Of course. You know I had to endure this kind of abuse when I was younger and now that I've grown older, I have to let go of my fears and face them, head-on. So, I'm not worried about it. I can handle myself with you guys' help."

"Well, if that's your decision, I will stand by it."

Zeke definitely feels happy with it, that he's on the same page and he can tell that Musaki definitely had some things he's been through in his life. Zeke asked, "Have you ever had those moments where you had to confront your fears and fight them?"

"Actually, I have. Just last year, I kicked Tai Lung's butt."

Zeke's eyes widened and asked, "Really?"

"Yep."

"Wow. What'd you do?"

"Well, I used my kung fu skills towards him and unleashed this awesone new power over me. It helped me fight him more and I guess, it showed me that I wasn't afraid of him anymore now that I fought him. That's what he deserved for killing my parents, so I'm thinking that he'll never see the light of day in Chor-Gom prison."

"You put all your fears away and destroyed him?"

"Oh yeah."

"You seem fearless."

"Don't let this fool you."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Zeke stuck out his paw and Musaki looks at it as if it needs another to hold a strong bond and he grabs it and they both held a strong grip with each other, as a bond that will never be broken. The door opens Mantis was the only one of the Five coming out of the door. Zeke and Musaki both said, "Good morning, Mantis."

"Morning, guys." Mantis said.

"So, are you up for this battle?"

"Hey, we're gonna kick this dude to shreds!"

Zeke chuckled and said, "I'll be looking forward to that."

"I hoped you would."

"I gotta ask you--how did you like Musaki when he came here?"

"Well, how should I put this? I liked having him here. When I see you, he reminds me of Musaki when he first came here. As the months go by, he seems cool to be around and I would see him come to me for almost anything. On training, he seems ready for battle and he shows off his amazing moves and they're really super-amazing. I've never seen anyone fight like Musaki before." Mantis explained.

"In actuality, Mantis and I have a little friendship bond and we're like friends rather than family, as you can tell." Musaki said.

"Same here. I'm looking forward to see you fight your foster dad for the first time."

"So are we."

Mantis, Musaki and Zeke turned around and saw Po, Shifu, Monkey, Viper, Crane and Tigress standing there. And then, they turned to the front and saw Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Ty, Sonic, Mookie, Joey, Brian and Seth coming in, looking like they're ready for the fight of their lives. Joey said, "You got room for nine of us?"

"For you, there's always room." Shifu said.

"We're here to join Zeke's fight." Mookie said.

"And we're not the only ones."

Then, they brought in Ichi, Fu, Ren and Kaguya with them as well. Musaki was surprised at how many of them were here to confront Zeke's abusive foster dad. He said, "Wow, that's a lot of you guys."

"All 23 of us are gonna fight." Zeke said.

"Well, add one more."

They all turned around and saw Jo Dakota Crevan coming in from behind the shadows. Po was surprised to see him come. He asked, "You're coming with us?"

"Yeah, of course." Jo explained.

"How'd you hear about this?" asked Tigress.

"Well, I snuck around the Jade Palace a couple of times and then, just yesterday, I overheard you guys talking about some fight between Zeke and his foster dad. That really hit home for me and if that was me, I would fight my real parents as well. So, I figured that I might join in, if that's all right with you."

"How'd you know about me?" asked Zeke.

"Like I said, I kinda snuck around the palace and heard that you were Musaki's brother. I would've met you in the first place, but I had to leave because someone would catch me sneaking in."

"Jo, you know you're always welcome." Shifu said.

"Do you know any kung-fu moves?" asked Miko.

"Just a few."

"A few? This little guy can do it all!" Po exclaimed.

"By the way, Jo, this is Zeke, my twin brother and my friends, Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Ty, Sonic, Brian, Mookie, Joey, Seth, Ichi, Fu, Ren and Kaguya. "

"Nice to meet ya, little guy." Ren said.

"You too."

"Well, I guess we're all heading out to fight this person that has tried to kill Zeke. Might as well take off." Shifu said.

Everyone dispersed out of the palace to go out to fight Zeke's abusive foster dad. Zeke can already tell that this is gonna be the fight of his life to confront his fear that he's been living in most of his life. A few minutes later, they head towards the mountains where they have to cross over to some place Commander Vachir said they were heading to. A place called 'Black Mongolia', a dangerous and somewhat crime-scenic place where there's danger in every turn.

As they were walking, Zeke definitely feels as if this adventure would be considered the first adventure he's endured in. Zeke asked Musaki, "How often do you guys head out?"

"Every so often, whenever there's some sort of, like, huge task or whatever, we would always go out for adventures and somehow, just take down villains or whatever. If they want a piece of us, we'll get a piece of them first." Musaki answered.

"You guys are rough."

"That's how we are."

"Okay, how many times have you been there?" asked Brian.

"About a few times."

"A few? Like how many?"

"I would say around maybe 2 or 3."

"Okay, you guys are basically risking your lives to take down villians in places like this?"

"Yep."

"That's supercool!" Joey exclaimed.

"It is?"

"Duh! You should get used to the experience."

"And why shouldn't I?"

"Cause you're shaking on your knees."

Jo was walking towards Po's side and Po suddenly turns to Jo and asked, "How long has it been since I last saw you, little buddy?"

"About Christmas time." Jo answered.

"How are you foster parents?"

"They're doing okay, I guess. I mean, my foster parents had gotten me involved in a poetry contest a few weeks ago and one of my poems totally blew them out of the water."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You were there for that, were you?"

"Now that I think of it, I was there. One of your poems made me cry a lot."

"Just like you do with my singing." Ichi said.

"Come on, I'm an emotional guy."

"He cries when you sing?" Jo asked.

"Big time."

"You guys both know that everything you do always make me emotional, because you're releasing your feelings out and you do it so good that it makes me cry."

"Figures."

As soon as they were walking towards the other side of the mountain, they hear a noise from miles away. All of them stopped and Jo asked, "What was that?"

"Shh!" Shifu said.

Everyone remained quiet for a while and then the sound comes back again. Shifu said, "Sounds like it's coming from one of the mountains."

"What do you think it is?" asked Tigress.

"I'm not sure, but whatever it is, it sounds like they're coming for us."

"Do you think....it's something....bad?" asked Jo.

"Hope not, little buddy." Po said.

"Well, whatever it is, I think it's getting closer." Musaki said.

"How'd you know?" asked Zeke.

All of a sudden, they come across this huge gorilla bandit with silver armor and carries a mace around it. Musaki exclaimed, "Cause here it is!"

The gorilla roared ferociously and charged at all of them and everyone has dispersed out of the way and started fighting this bandit.

* * *

Let the fight commence! Joe 'Po' Navark, Jo is on this fic as promised. Thanks! Stay tuned for more!


	29. Fighting the Bandit

Time for war!

* * *

Chapter 29: Fighting the Bandit

As everyone was fighting the gorilla bandit, the bandit started charging towards most of the gang and keeps his eye on Zeke. He backed away slowly and when he tries to run, he grabs him by the ankle and plans to maul him to pieces. All of a sudden, a sonic-punch came towards his face. His hands released Zeke and he fell down on his feet.

The gorilla felt as if he was beating himself up, but in actuality, it was Musaki who was fighting the gorilla down to a pulp. He slapped him, kicked him, punched him hard and shoved him to the ground using his invisiblity powers. When he turned visible, Zeke saw him from a quarter-mile distance from the bandit. Musaki looked at Zeke and gave him a thumbs-up and Zeke gave him a thumbs-up as well.

The gorilla bellows loudly and slams down Musaki hard. He comes for Zeke, but all of a sudden, Tigress got in front him and grabbed the bandit from his hands. She turned to Zeke and exclaimed, "Run! I got him!"

Zeke ran as further from the gorilla as possible and Tigress used her attack skills to take him down. He scratched his face and the gorilla roared in pain and then, rises up in the air and kicks him in the face. All of a sudden, Viper, Mantis, Crane and Monkey caught the bandit flying through the air and Crane flew up in the air and kicked him in the face with his feet and then, the gorilla puts his fists out and Crane missed every single jabs and kicked him in the face again and then, Viper swiped his face with her tail and used her entire body to wrap around his feet and falls down to the ground.

The gorilla wasn't giving up yet and Monkey charged at him quickly and kicked him in the face with his feet and Mantis got in the fur of the gorilla and striked him down without being seen. Mantis striked him down by making him fall down all over the place and taking him down very quickly.

All of a sudden, Musaki's friends has their turn to take down this gorilla and Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Ty, Sonic, Mookie, Joey, Brian and Seth all went down and beat the crap out of the gorilla. Shanghai, Joey and Ty used their legs to kick him in the stomach whilst Miko, Shudoku and Brian used some of their supernatural powers to kick him in the shin and bashed him across the head. Seth and Sonic used their speed agility to confuse the gorilla by going across the way and when the gorilla looked confused, they suddenly kick him in the face.

Then, it was Ichi, Fu, Kaguya and Ren's turn to take down this gorilla. Kaguya kicked him down with her feet while Fu poked his eyes and kicked him in the legs. Ren spins around bashes him across the head and back while Ichi flies on top of him and exclaimed, "Freeze Blast!"

He used his frozen powers to freeze him up and then, broke through the ice and beat him down. Po and Shifu were next and Po punched his lights out in the face and jumped up and kicked him in the head. He got back down to the ground, crouch-style and exclaimed, "Shifu, go!"

"Way ahead of you, panda!" Shifu exclaimed.

Shifu jumped across his head and beats him down hard. He uses his feet and punch him out and then, slapped him in the face with his hands. All of a sudden, Jo comes around and kicks him in the face and then, raises his fists and punches him multiple times and does a 360-endover backflip and knocks him out cold.

Po and Shifu were surprised to see Jo's fighting skills come alive. Everyone els saw it coming and they were all shocked, including Tigress. She never realized that Jo had this amazing move he made. She asked, "How did you do that?"

"I took special time to master my moves once or twice." Jo said.

"Well, I figured you proved me wrong. You are impressive." Tigress said.

"Finally, you got it! You are in awe. I figured you would like it."

All of a sudden, the gorilla bandit wakes up and sees everyone surrounding him. He gets up and then, turns around and sees Musaki standing there, mistaking him for Zeke. He growls ferciously and bellows loudly and then, charges him.

"Musaki! Get out of the way!" Po shouted.

* * *

Uh-oh! The gorilla is after Musaki! What's gonna happen now? If you thought this chapter was crazy, wait until you see the next chapter! It will be dramatic and intense!


	30. Musaki in Peril

Our main focus is pretty much on Musaki and Zeke. And the gorilla bandit is after Zeke! Why? Only one way to find out....

* * *

Chapter 30: Musaki in Peril

Musaki backed away closer from the gorilla, thinking that it's Zeke, but it's not. Musaki got to his head and bashed it down hard and harder. He punched his lights out, but then the gorilla mauls him and scratches him. Musaki started running and the gorilla chased him. He climbs through most of the mountains and hopes not to let the gorilla catch him and Zeke.

To his surprise, he jumps out of nowhere and Musaki could not believe his eyes. He slams on top of the mountain and got to him, while Musaki backed away slowly. He explains, "Dude, it's not me you want. Why are you beating me up?"

He bellows loudly and growls at Musaki, thinking it's Zeke. He backed away until he sees an end of the mountain. He looks down and it's over 50 feet in the air. He knew for sure that he was gonna be a goner, but then, just as soon as the gorilla was about to beat him down, all of a sudden, Zeke comes in and screams, "Hey! Leave my brother alone! It's me you want!"

"Dude, are you serious?!" asked Musaki.

"He came charging me first. I can't let him take you down."

The gorilla surrounded both of them and he was ready to fight both of them. Zeke punched him in the face and Musaki slams him down with his foot. Both of them were beating him down very hard and they were gonna do everything they can to take down this gorilla.

Meanwhile, the others were hearing the fight from the top. No one knows what's about to happen and Po couldn't take anymore of the suspense. He frantically asked, "What are we doing standing here? Can't we see what's about to happen?"

"Aren't we about to, though?" asked Ichi.

"Come. Let's go see!" Shifu exclaimed.

Everyone got to the top of the mountain and sees both Zeke and Musaki fighting down the gorilla. The gorilla was focused on Zeke and he beat him down very hard. Zeke fought back with him by kicking, scratching and beating him down as he tries to claw him.

Po looked astonished about why he's beating Zeke down and asked Shifu, "How come the gorilla wants Zeke?"

"No one knows for sure, panda." Shifu answered.

"Then, why did he charge Lil' Saki?"

"Maybe he's mistaken him for Zeke." said Jo.

"How'd you figure that?"

"I was guessing."

"I hope he gets rid of this dude."

Zeke continues to fight the gorilla and he jumps on to him and bodyslammed him down to the ground. All of them were in shock and Musaki screamed, "ZEKE!!"

Zeke's paw was coming out of his stomach and he balled his fist and punched him in the groin. He removed himself out of the gorilla and got up and was feeling okay, despite the scrapes and punch marks.

Musaki runs quickly towards him and asked, "You okay, bro?"

Zeke pants heavily and said, "Yeah. I thought I was done for."

"So were we."

Zeke turns around and sees the rest of them behind the mountain. He chuckled softly and said, "How long were you there?"

"Long enough. You okay, Lil' Z?" asked Po.

"For now."

The gorilla turns around and sees Musaki standing there and he growls at him and smacks him in the head and falls down the ground. Zek turns around and sees Musaki being beat down. He comes closer to him, but Zeke runs to him and pushes him out of the way.

'You leave my brother alone!" screamed Zeke.

The gorilla growled and said, "Make me, Ezekiel."

Everyone gasped in shock when he heard the gorilla speak for the first time. Musaki was suprised as well and asked, "You speak?!"

"Of course I speak! I came here for Zeke."

"Dude, what do you want from me?" asked Zeke.

"All I want to do is kill you to pieces just like I tried to do several years ago."

Then, all of a sudden, Zeke recognizes his fierce red eyes and half of his weapons and it turns out that the gorilla bandit is something he sees shocking. He breathed heavily and said, "No, you can't be..."

"Yes.... I am your foster father."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

"What?! This dude that beat the crap out of me is your abusive foster dad?!" asked Musaki.

"Yeah, it's me. I came over here to finish what I started when you were three."

"Why?!"

"When my wife killed herself, I knew that it was all your fault."

"You shouldn't blame Zeke for that." Shifu said.

"Shut your mouth, rodent!" he shouted.

"Hey, nobody calls Shifu a rodent!" Po exclaimed.

"Oh, shut up and mind your own business, you fat thing!"

"Do not talk to Po like that!" Zeke exclaimed.

He stared at Zeke and asked, "Do you know who you're talking to?"

"Why did you want to kill me?!"

"I wanted you to die!"

"Dude, you are so not gonna kill my brother!" Musaki screamed.

He quickly turned to Musaki and asked, "Your brother?"

"Darn right he's my brother!"

All of a sudden, he came closer to Musaki and punched him the face and scratched him up as he fell down towards the mountain. He grabs on to one part of the mountain and tries to hold on. All of the others were completely shocked and scared about this whole thing.

"Hold on, Musaki!" Zeke screamed.

"We're coming for ya, Lil' Saki!" Po shouted.

"Just keep hanging on!" Miko exclaimed.

Musaki tried to get back to the mountain, but the gorilla grabbed him by the hand and looked at him and told him, "You want to protect Zeke? Well guess what? Your life, same as his, will be no more!"

Then, he lets go of Musaki's hands and falls down from the moutain, screaming loudly. Zeke quickly heads over and sees that if he's still there, but there was no sign of him anywhere. He breathed in panic and sees that it's all hopeless. Musaki was gone.

"NOOOOOOO!!!! MUSAKI!!!!!!" Zeke screamed.

He suddenly got to his knees and broke down in tears. He starts sobbing loudly, because his abusive foster father had killed Musaki. The gorilla comes close to him and shoves him down hard. He looks at him and asked, "Why did you do that?! Musaki meant everything in the world to me!"

"He was nothing! You don't even know him!" he screamed.

"You're wrong! I do! He's my brother!"

He smacked him in the face and screamed, "Listen to me, he's never your brother. Now, I'm gonna take you and continue what I should've done 11 and a half years ago!"

He grabs Zeke by the arm and is afraid to see what happens next. All the others look in shock for two things; Musaki falling down and Zeke getting killed. Po looked scared as ever and asked, "What are we gonna do now?"

"We can't let this happen. If I know Musaki, he's probably holding on to something that he can grab quickly and is climbing back." Shifu said.

"So what do we do now?" asked Miko.

"We rescue Zeke."

"I hope you're right."

Shanghai looked extremely quiet and thinks about Musaki. He walks towards the end of the mountain and whispered, "Oh, Musaki, I hope you're okay, little buddy."

* * *

On the other side of the mountain, Musaki was unconscious and fell down near a tree on the ground after being dropped off by that gorilla. He was unable to move and all of a sudden, a shadow figure comes towards him. He groans softly and slowly opens his eyes and it was blurry. It was like an unknown shadow figure that's closer to him and he closed his eyes shortly after that.

* * *

What's gonna happen to Musaki now? Find out next!


	31. Nephew

This is where we left off the end of the last chapter. And Musaki is expecting another surprise!

* * *

Chapter 31: Nephew

Within several minutes after he was knocked out, he slowly opened his eyes and groaned softly and finds himself in a cavern place out of nowhere. He looks around and has no clue where he is at this point. He rubbed his head a little and feels something wrapped on his head and it was only a few bandages.

He slowly breathes and asked, "Where am I? How did I get here?"

Then, out of nowhere, this shadowy figure comes towards him and Musaki looked a little scared to see who this is. He backed away slowly, but the shadow figure was actually a panda. He puts his hand on Musaki's head and said, "Don't be afraid."

He looked at him and realized that it wasn't threatening or dangerous. It was just a panda that was helping him. He stood there and saw a male panda, wearing some ripped shorts, a little bigger and taller, light blue eyes staring at him. Musaki asked, "How did I get here?"

"Well, I saw you lying there on the ground and thought that you might be hurt or something, so I put you in here to keep you safe until you woke up."

Musaki sighed heavily and said, "Well, thanks I think. But, where am I, anyway?"

"Well, you're in my home."

"Your home?"

"Yeah. It's kinda complicated, I know, but this is where my kids and I live."

"I see."

"It's kinda strange, but hey, it's home."

"Very true."

"What's your name?"

"Musaki."

All of a sudden, the panda was surprised to hear his name as if he knows him. He said, "Say that again."

"My name is Musaki."

"Musaki? Is your dad's name Sakamoto?"

"Yeah, why?"

The panda was completely overwhelmed by this and said to him, "Your dad...was my brother."

"Meaning?"

He looked at Musaki's blue eyes and saw the necklace with an 'M' on his neck and gasped softly. He looked at him and said, "Is that you?"

Musaki stared at him confused-like and said, "This is getting weird."

"I mean, I knew you were alive, but I never thought that you'd still exist."

"I don't understand."

"What, you don't recognize me?"

"No."

He reaches in to hug Musaki tightly and he tries to break free from him, but keeps hanging on to him. He said to him, "Come on. After all these years, is this the kind of greeting you'd give your uncle?"

Musaki froze for a while and asked, "Uncle?"

"Didn't know you had an uncle, didn't ya? Well, SURPRISE!!!!"

Musaki was completely confused with this and his 'uncle' stared at him deeply and said, "Look at you. You got my brother's blue eyes and my sister-in-law's chin, which I found weird, but pretty cool nonetheless."

"Let me see if I have this right. If you're my uncle, then that would make me--"

"My nephew."

"Nephew? You mean--you're my dad's brother?"

"Long time, no see, right?"

Musaki was shocked to realize that he had an uncle and within a few seconds, he fainted. A few seconds later, he awakened Musaki with some smelling salts and it didn't take long to get up from the floor. He looked at his uncle and told him, "Is this for real?"

"Does a dragon breathe fire?"

Believing that, Musaki figured that it is for real. He looked at him and his uncle said, "I'm your Uncle Mako. I don't know if you remember me, because you were only a baby cub when I first saw you. You used to grab my nose for a while and wouldn't let go."

"I did?"

"Yeah, you did."

"I never realized that."

"That's because you were a baby. When I saw you when you were two, it's like you're growing just a little and you used to run around the cave for a while and just play hide-and-seek. That's pretty much the memory I've ever had."

"Well, I don't know if you noticed, but my parents died when I was three."

"I know. Some of the rhino guards told me about what happened at that cave. When they told me that both of them were killed, I was torn to pieces like I was never gonna see them again. I asked them do they have a kid and they told me 'yes' and I promised your dad that if something happens to him, I would take you in and take care of you. But instead, they told me they were in the orphanage." Mako explained.

"Well, why couldn't you find me? Didn't you want me?" asked Musaki.

"I tried to find you in other orphanages, but I had no idea which one. I came across this one place that said 'Bao Gu Orphange' and I wasn't sure if you were there or not. So, I just wanted to wait until you were older to see me again and I think today was that day."

"I was at the Bao Gu Orphanage. I had a long depression after my parents' death and I stayed in my dark room for 10 years."

"No kidding? After I heard that both your parents didn't make it, I was so depressed and I was crying myself to sleep and ended up in a month and a half of depression and grieving. It was hard for myself to let the wounds of my grieving heal away, but you learn to live with it and just move on. Now that I see you, you remind me of my brother. He was an awesome brother to me and I always look up to him."

"Do you miss him?"

"Yeah, I do."

"So do I."

"How old are you now?"

"14."

"Wow. You've grown older. Your parents would be proud."

"I know they already are. When I think of them, I just look up at the sky and wonder what it's like up there. It's very peaceful and they look down at me from heaven, so I know I feel safe and comforted and loved."

"So, in other words, you can feel their presence?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Amazing. I just honestly cannot believe I found you."

"Neither can I."

Both Musaki and Mako looked at each other and then, Musaki grabbed onto Mako and just hugged him tightly. Tears fell down towards his face as he embraces him deeply. Mako did the same as well and he hugged him tightly. He looks at Musaki and asked, "How did you end up in the tree, anyway?"

"Well, I don't know. It all seems like such a blur to me."

Then, a blast from the past struck him quickly. He remembers being taken down by this gorilla and also, that gorilla was Zeke's absuive foster father and he dropped him out of the mountain. He got back to reality quickly, looks at his Uncle Mako and told him, "I think I do. Me and my twin brother have been fighting this crazy gorilla and it turns out, the gorilla was my twin brother's abusive foster dad. He tried to sacrifice himself to rescue me, but this gorilla picked me up and dropped me from out of the mountain and I guess I ended up here."

"Zeke? You mean, Ezekiel?"

"Yeah, you know him?"

"Come to think of it, I do remember Ezekiel. He was a little baby cub and he was born after you. Your mom gave birth to twins and I knew that there would be two of you. One question about that gorilla--how did he get to be Zeke's foster father?"

"I didn't know he was his foster father until he attacked us."

"So, what's gonna happen now?"

"I have to save him."

"You can't do this alone."

"How do you mean?"

"You're gonna need some help. I'll take you to meet my kids. Maybe they can help."

"You have kids?"

"You're in for a big surprise when I introduce them to you."

* * *

Musaki meets his uncle. Unexpected, right? Meeting his uncle for the first time ever! And he'll expect another surprise coming up!


	32. Meeting Musaki's Cousins

We get to meet Musaki's cousins!

* * *

Chapter 32: Meeting Musaki's Cousins

Later on, Musaki was behind Uncle Mako through the rest of the cave and as soon as he went in the other side, Musaki could not believe his eyes on what he saw--a lot of kids. Basically, just running around and doing whatever. Musaki was speechless and didn't know what to make of it. He turned to his uncle and asked, "How many kids do you have?"

"Well, about 29." he answered.

"29? Seriously?"

"Well, 9 of them are my actual children, the others have been adopted and fostered."

"How do you keep up with them?"

Mako sighed heavily and said, "Trust me. It is not that easy."

One of the kids noticed Musaki coming in behind Mako and most of them stared at him for a bit. Mako looked at Musaki and told them, "Don't worry. They don't bite. By the way, my oldest was the one that saw you first and took you inside."

"Really?"

Musaki came across this panda, about a little taller and big, hazel eyes, about 21 years old, wears shorts and has a gold and silver necklace on the side. He stares at Musaki and asked, "You okay? I saw you hanging on the tree and you nearly died."

"How'd you know I fell here?"

"Because I saw you fall down from that mountain and landed on that tree. You're really lucky you didn't have any serious injuries."

"Well, thanks...I think."

"Musaki, this is Cody. He's my oldest son...and he's your cousin."

Musaki widened his eyes with astonishment and shock to learn that Cody is Musaki's cousin. He looked at Cody and asked, "Is this a dream?"

"Well, not really. My dad has told me so much about you and your parents. I wanted to know much about you and here you are." Cody said.

"This is a first."

"And these are my other kids; Tsunami, Samurai, Zoey, Phoenix, Luna and my triplets--Madison, Jared and Dakota." Mako said.

He looked at Tsunami, a bit bigger than Cody, 18 years old, dark blue eyes, wears green and yellow shorts and has a sunshine tattoo on his shoulder and Tsunami smiled at Musaki and said, "How's it going, cuz?"

Musaki chuckled nervously and said, "Fine. Just fine."

"Didn't know this was happening, right?"

"Not really."

"Well, my dad actually knows your dad and he was his yonger brother." said Samurai, a giant panda, taller than Cody, weighing about 190 pounds, green eyes, 16 years old, wearing some shorts with little rips on the side and wears an black and gold amulet on his neck.

"That's amazing."

"Yeah, I know. Most of my friends call me 'Sam'. Because my name is Samurai, I like to be called either 'Rai' or 'Sam'. Mostly, everyone around here calls me 'Sam'."

"Okay...Sam."

"Why'd you say it nervously?"

"Because I never though I'd had these many cousins."

"Surprised, aren't you?"

"Sorta."

Musaki comes around Zoey, female panda, weighing 142 pounds, 15 years old, crystal blue eyes, wears a blue T-shirt and pink shorts, and she smiled at him and said, "So, we finally get to meet you. I thought that you'd might be a baby, but I guess you're a teenager."

"Yeah, I'm 14."

Then, he sees Phoenix and Luna come next, and they gathered around Musaki. Phoenix, 14 years old, weighing in 167 pounds, brown eyes, giant panda and wears red and blue shorts, looks at Musaki and looked totally surprised to see him for the first time, while Luna, 13 years old, weighing 155 pounds, light emerald eyes, wearing a red T-shirt along with purple shorts looked less than amazed to see Musaki for the first time.

"Nice to meet you, cousin." Phoenix said.

"Likewise."

"How old are you?"

"14."

"So am I! We're both the same age!"

"Well, I'll be 15 in a few weeks."

"Bummer. But, I guess that's cool too."

"So, why didn't my father take you in?" asked Luna.

"Well, I was busy dealing with my depression of losing both my parents at the orphanage, that I totally forgot about everything else." Musaki answered.

Luna looked at Musaki and gave him a little smile and said, "It would've been great having you around."

"I know, right?"

"Tell me about it."

Then, he turns around and sees the triplets--Madison, Jared and Dakota, all age 12, little smaller, around 97 pounds, Jared and Dakota only have brown eyes and Madison only has green, and they wear some shorts as well. Musaki looked puzzled to know which is which. He asked, "So, the three of you are triplets?"

"Yep." they all answered.

"That's weird."

"Like how weird?" asked Madison.

"Just weird."

"Well, it's kinda complicated to even know that we've all been born on the same day." Jared said.

"But it's kinda cool." Dakota said.

"Yeah, I can see that."

"So, now that you met my kids, you'll meet the ones that I adopted."

Mako took Musaki to see his adopted kids and the others followed suit as well. When they got outside, they saw the adopted kids in the front of the cave and Mako called them all over to where he's standing. When they got there, most of them looked at Musaki and one asked, "Who's he?"

"This is Musaki...your cousin." Mako answered.

All of them were in complete and total shock when they heard what Mako said. One said, "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope."

"Where did they all come from?" asked Musaki.

"Well, I took in 3 kids from China, 3 from Korea, 3 from Vietnam, 3 from Japan and 8 from Hong Kong."

"So, that's..."

"20 adopted kids."

"Amazing."

"There's Diego, Tai Moon, Travis Li, Maverick Ling, Ryan, Mikey, Cyrus Ming, Genki, Megan, Cheyenne, Miles, Austin, Spike Li, Zak, Chloe, Chad, Crash, Bang, Logan and Tae Kwan Do."

"How old are they all?"

"Diego's 19, Tai Moon is 18, Travis Li is 17, Maverick Ling is 16, Ryan is also 16, Mikey is 18 as well, Cyrus Ming and Genki are 15, Megan and Cheyenne are 14, Miles and Austin are 13, Spike Li is 12, Zak is 12, Chloe and Chad are 12, Crash is 11, Bang is 10, and Logan and Tae Kwan Do are 8."

"That's a lot of kids in different species. I had no idea they're all my cousins." Musaki said.

"Well, life is full of surprises."

"Our father has told us about you."

"He has."

He looks up and sees Diego, a small red panda, blue eyes, wears a blue and green robe and a little bar in his lip. He looked at him and Musaki said, "You kinda remind me of someone."

"I do? Who?"

"Well, someone I know."

"We're all from your father's side of your family. So, now that you've met your cousins for the first time, what's gonna happen to Zeke?"

Musaki was completely scared to know what's gonna happen to Zeke soon. After finding out that the deranged gorilla was his abusive foster dad and saw him for the first time, he's thinking the worst possible thing that will occur to him. He bit his lip and looked at Mako and said, "I don't know. I just hope he doesn't get killed."

"Is he your brother?" asked Ryan, an orange and black striped tiger with hazel eyes, a little smaller than everyone.

"Yeah, he is. I just found out that he was a few days ago. There's no telling what that crazy gorilla will do to him now."

"Which part of the mountain did you fall out of?" asked Zoey.

Musaki looked behind the mountains and pointed at the top of the direction to where the gorilla dropped him off at. Mako came close to him and said, "This is where you fell down at and then landed here?"

"Yep."

"How are we gonna get up there, though? It's like further away."

Mako began to think of something for a second, then got a brilliant idea. He turned to Musaki and asked, "Have you ever ridden on a Dragon before?"

"Not that I know of."

Mako made a loud whistle and all of a sudden, the ground starts shaking a little and Musaki didn't know what's gonna happen and then, there came seven dragons popping out of nowhere. They landed to where they're standing there. Musaki was astonished about it, and he said, "Okay, you keep them?"

"Whenever we get to traveling or an adventure, we just call them up."

"Very smart."

Mako got up on the blue and green dragon and then, turned to Musaki and said, "Let's go save your brother."

Musaki chuckled softly and now is the time to rescue Zeke from that gorilla. He got up on the dragon while the others got on the other dragons. Mako chuckled and said, "You might want to hold on."

He grabbed onto Mako's shoudlers as all the dragons take off to the mountains for a rescue attempt to save Zeke, unaware that they're gonna fight alongside Po, Shifu and some others. Musaki kept his head forward and he puts his bandana back on and shouts, "Hang on, Zeke! I'm coming for ya!"

* * *

This is gonna be an awesome battle! Stay tuned for more of this incredible awesomeness!


	33. Rescuing Zeke

Let the battle commence...take two!

* * *

Chapter 33: Rescuing Zeke

Meanwhile, Zeke's abusive foster dad was in front of Zeke, looking bruised and messed-up. He was panting harder with blood, scrapes, cuts and bruises throughout most of his body and his face. He walked slowly as if his life is gonna be in huge danger.

The others followed suit as well and their concerns for Zeke was starting to become much more worse than ever. Po was panicking a lot, thinking that the gorilla is gona do some serious harm on Zeke. He bit his lip in fear and turned to Shifu and said, "This is gonna be bad. And not in a good way."

"Yes, panda. We all know that." Shifu said.

"We have got to do something. We can't let Zeke die!" Miko exclaimed.

"How are we gonna do that, with that stupid, violent gorilla in our way?" asked Ichi asked.

"Think we can come up with a distraction?" asked Ren.

"Are you kidding? If he knows it's us, he'll put the smackdown on all of us, so that's way too risky." Brian said.

"Well, we have to do something. We can't just let our friend die by King Kong over here." Joey said.

"Everyone, just stop it!" Po shouted.

Everyone caught Po's attention as he drives to his breaking point. His emotions were a combination of sadness, anger, fury and also fear. He was shaking a little and said, "This is crazy! What are we gonna do about it?! Musaki's gone and Zeke is getting killed. I can't lose anyone, because they're like family to me! You know what that makes me?"

"Insecure?" asked Tigress.

"You get my point!"

Po was feeling so mad and he just walked through the side of the mountain, looking terribly ticked and he pounded his fist on the dirt and puts his hands over his head. Shifu looked at Po for a quick second and then, walked towards him and told him, "Master Po, I understand how you feel."

"Since when?" he asked, tearfully.

"You've heard that I lost my son, right?"

"A million times."

"Listen to me, we're all upset about this, but we've been through things like this before and we have to save Zeke, no matter what."

Po wiped his eyes, but didn't want Shifu to see it, so he hid from himself. He sighed heavily and said, "Sorry I snapped. It's just--I just wish that it couldn't have been me instead of either Zeke or Musaki."

"Don't say that, Po. Don't ever say things like that. You know what would happen if it was you?"

"You'd lose me?"

"Yes. Not just me, everyone would be heartbroken if you were gone."

"Even me." Tigress said.

Everyone turned to Tigress in surprise and never really expected it. Crane asked, "Did you just say what I think you just said?"

"What?"

"You care for him, don't you?" asked Mantis.

She was trying to deny what she said, but she sighed and said, "Well, I wouldn't want him gone."

"We all care for you and we care for Zeke and Musaki too. If I know Musaki, he's probably trying to find us." Shifu said.

"You sure?"

"I know for sure."

All of a sudden, everyone heard a loud scream coming from behind. Everyone gathered around and ran towards the edge of the mountain and to their shock, they saw the gorilla beating up Zeke in every possible way. They were really frightened by what they see.

"Just leave me alone!" Zeke shouted.

"Why should I?! Your foster mother has killed herself at that prison!" the gorilla shouted.

He threw a spear towards Zeke and he misses throughout. He snarled at him and said, "She's dead because of you."

Zeke was panting heavily and said, "Just because she died doesn't mean I was involved in it!"

"LIAR!!! You're a full-blown, rotten, dirty little liar! When she killed herself, it's like my pride was broken and you broke it for me!"

"Don't listen to this dude! He's a deranged nutcase!" Kaguya shouted.

"Shut up, you little brat!"

"Who are telling me to shut up?! I will shut _you _up and see how you like it!"

The gorilla snarled at her, and turned his attention to Zeke and beats him up in the face, mauls him, slapped him, scratched him and kicked him in every bone in his body. Zeke falls down and there were only bruises and blood on his face and body. He tries to get up, but is stopped when he saw his foster father picks up a sword.

"Get up again and I'll finish what I tried to start 12 years ago!"

He panted heavily and things looked hopeless for him, but he remembers something quickly and he remembered the words that he said to Musaki;

'I have to let go of my fears and face them, head-on.'

Those words echoed through his mind and just quickly, he went from fearful to fearless as he looked at his foster dad in the eye and gets up slowly. That did not sit well with him.

"I'm telling you, if you ever get up, I will kill you!"

Zeke was rebellious towards him and then, he fully stood up on his two feet and said, "Go ahead. Make my day."

He snarled at him and looked extremely furious about it. Then, he bellows loudly and removes the gun and goes for the knife instead. He walked closely to Zeke, grabs him by the neck, and plans to slit his throat.

Po was panicking extremely and said, "I can't watch this!"

Just as soon as Zeke enters death's door, a sudden fireball flies through his back and he drops the knife to the ground. Just to his surprise, a dragon comes out of nowhere and they expected another surprise--someone jumping out of the dragon and landed on the ground. Suddenly, his face unveils and it's Musaki standing there, smirking at him, saying, "Thought I was dead? Guess again, punk."

The rest of them were overjoyed that Musaki was alive. He looked at everyone and said, "Hey, you guys!"

"Lil' Saki! You're all right!" Po exclaimed.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"But how did you get here and where did this dragon came from?" asked Shifu.

"I can answer that."

All of a sudden, Mako steps out of the dragon and comes to Musaki's side in front of all of them. Shifu looked at him and asked, "Who are you?"

"My name's Mako. Just founded out that Musaki's my nephew."

"He's your....nephew?"

"Long story. Tell you about it later."

Musaki turned his attention to the gorilla and the gorilla told him, "Impossible! How would you survive death?"

"I guess I have a habit of knowing that I can strike at any given moment. Now, leave my brother alone."

"Never!"

Then, Musaki brings in his sais and twirls them around and spins around, pauses and said, "Then it is on like Donkey Kong!"

The gorilla screams and charges towards him and he uses his sais to fight him and punches him in the face. The gorilla punches him as well and kicks him, but steps on a wall and flies towards him, kicking him in the shin. Everyone cheered loudly and he looked at Zeke and asked, "You okay, bro?"

Zeke went to him and said, "I'm cool now that you're here. I thought you were dead."

"Me? I was nearly dead, but I lived overall."

The gorilla got up and snarled at both Zeke and Musaki and he plans to charge him until Diego rises up and slings him and scratches him. Zeke was surprised that the tiger comes up and saves both of them. Then, the rest of his cousins came by and defends both Zeke and Musaki.

"Musaki, who are they?" asked Zeke.

"They're our cousins."

Cyrus Ming looked at him and said, "You must be Zeke."

"Y-Yeah."

"Well, we're here to rescue you from this crazy ape!"

"You think you can destruct me?"

"We know!"

Cyrus Ming scratched him in the face and then, unleashed a blue and green supernatural power out of his finger and used it to aim it at him, while Mikey and Maverick Ling furiously scratched him and beat him down, using their super-speed and yellow cosmetic powers. They struck him down and lands on the ground. He goes through all of them, but all of Musaki's cousins beat him down already, which leaves the others to fight them once more.

Mako, Musaki and Zeke looked at each other and Mako asked, "You guys wanna do this?"

"Do you?" they asked.

"Hey, whatever works."

Musaki crouched in combat-style mode and Mako rises up, twirls around and punches him straight in the mouth and got down to his knee. Musaki and Zeke were speechless and said, "Wow."

Mako winks at them and said, "Kung fu training. Runs in my family."

"That's amazing."

"You've got some moves, old man." Po said.

"Well, you know."

"ENOUGH!!!"

The gorilla was fed up with it and looks at Zeke and told him, "You cannot possibly defeat me. I can still kill you when I can!"

"For years, you've been the reason why I was scared to death. Well, not anymore! So, this will be your last fight you ever had, me and you!"

Zeke pulls out his nunchuks, twirls it around and crouched down, kombat style and said, "If you want a piece of me, come and get it."

* * *

Coming up, Zeke's fight with his abusive foster father will be awesomer! Stay tuned!


	34. The Last Fight

This chapter will be the last to see Oroku and you guys are seeing the fight between him and Zeke. Tell me if it's awesome!

* * *

Chapter 34: The Last Fight

Zeke stared at his abusive foster father, holding nunchuks in his hand, twirling them around to start a fight with him. His foster father snorts at him and holds a knife towards him. He stares at him and asked, "You want to fight me?"

"You abused me once and now it's payback!" Zeke exclaimed.

The gorilla snorts and then, bellows loudly and charges at him, but suddenly...he stopped and didn't see him anywhere. He looks around and there's no Zeke anywhere until...

He felt a punch and kick on the stomach, slap, flip and vertical takedowns in every alley. The others thought that he was fighting himself, but Musaki knew who it was. He folded his arms and whispered, "Go, Zeke."

With every hit he had, the gorilla grunted and groaned in pain until he heard a voice saying, "Is this enough?"

He can tell it was Zeke's voice and that made him agitated than ever, so he decides to fight back, but he misses everytime because Zeke is nowhere to be found. Zeke carries him, slams him from left to right and on the rocks. Then, he throws him up in the air, leaps up and kicks him head-on. Then, he turned visible again as the gorilla falls down on the ground.

He finally sees Zeke and he asked, "How do _you _like it?"

Suddenly, in an ironic twist, his foster father grabs him by the ankles, slams him down and hits him in the nose. He threw him off and fell down on the ground, but Zeke got up on his feet already. His foster father snarled at him and said, "For years, you have been on my mind and it's always endless torture!"

"You have tortured me too!" Zeke shouted.

"You dare question me, Oroku, who has wanted vengance against you?"

Oroku snarled and then, planned to slam him, but Zeke missed with a backflip and landed on the ground. He said, "What have I ever done to torture you, anyway?"

"I never liked you since you came into our lives, like you were interfering with our business." Oroku said, angrily.

"When did I ever interfere with your business, anyway?"

"You turned me in to the guard rhinos!"

"They caught you trying to slit my throat when I was three!"

"Why is it that you cannot toughen up? I hate it when you shed those stupid tears of yours or hide from me!"

He slams a punch on Zeke, but does a backflip and landed on another part of the mountain. Oroku grew very irritated and said, "Hold still, will ya?! So I can kill you!"

"No!"

"Are you defying me?"

"Yeah, so what?!"

"Every day of my life, I've been having rough days and it was always your fault, because you came to our lives!"

"So, what's the point, anyway?!"

"You've been spying on us selling meth and marijuana and seeing me and your stupid foster mother at home with it!"

"You were always busy!"

"I would've killed you when I had the chance. Now, that my wife has gone, you caused it to happen when she took her own life."

"It's not my responsiblity if someone kills themselves."

"What does it matter, anyway?" asked Musaki.

"You stay out of this, punk!"

"Who you callin' a punk, chimp?!"

"Chill, Musaki. He's not worth it." Zeke said.

Musaki realizes that this is Zeke's fight and he backed away slowly and let him handle it on his own. Zeke looked at Oroku and said, "Just because I didn't fit in to your family, doesn't mean you had to take it out on me."

"That's exactly what it meant. I swear, you will die today! For letting my wife kill herself, sending me to jail and for not toughening up, let's see if you die today!"

Oroku brought in his knife and Zeke leaped up in the air and kicked him from behind. He then got surprised that he threw a large boulder and aimed for his head, then twirl-kicked him 5 times. Oroku fought back by punching him, scratching him and kicking him down. But it doesn't stop there. He raised his fist and punched him in the eye and kicked him the shoulder and the mouth.

There was blood coming out of his mouth and a black eye along with a nosebleed. He felt every ounce of pain all over his body and he was beaten, kicked and punched. But then, Oroku does the unthinkable--he ran towards him and bit his shoulder and legs. Zeke screamed in total pain and Oroku beat him hard with a staff.

Zeke fell down to the ground and Oroku was ready to end Zeke's life once and for all. He laughed loudly and said, "This is where you life ends and your pathetic excuse for a brother cannot save you at all. None of you can save him! Just look at him, he's not even fit enough to be a part of your family! He's a totaly and complete nobody! That's all he is and that's all he's ever gonna be!"

"You're wrong." Zeke said, painfully.

Oroku turned around and saw that Zeke is still standing up. Despite the pain all over him, he's not giving up just yet. He said, "The reason why they took me in was because I am Musaki's brother and they all care very much for me. Whereas you, you always put me down, beat me down and have always been the victim for you violent temper. Well, not anymore! This is my life and you cannot end my life! These people care for me and they love me!"

Oroku could not believe what he just heard. That made him angrier than ever. He shouted, "How could they love a nobody like you?!"

"Because Zeke is one of a kind and he's a good person. And he's a somebody. Somebody who's part of our family, which we happen to love very much." Shifu said.

"You heard him."

Oroku could not take this much anymore. He had reached his breaking point, and he grabs the knife and aims for him, but all of a sudden, Zeke pulls his hand out and the knife is pulled away from Oroku and floats it towards Zeke and grabs it. He was surprised by what he saw. Then, he floats from the sky, the clouds starts forming and all of a sudden, Zeke raises up his hands and an orange-red beam went towards his hands and strikes on Oroku and it shocked him.

He starts screaming loudly in pain as he receives more pain than ever felt. All the others were amazed by his powers. Soon, Zeke comes in sonic-speed and punches him right in the face and smacks him head-open. Then, he throws the knife away out of the mountains. And then, Oroku runs towards and tries to punch him, but unfortunately, Zeke pushed him harder and punched him in the air and falls out of the mountain and then, he floats some rocks towards him and they all fall down towards Oroku and when he falls down, the rocks come over and crush him down hard.

Zeke pants heavily and looks down and sees Oroku being mauled and crushed down by rocks. He softly said, "Goodbye....and good riddance."

The others were cheering for Zeke and he turns around and sees everyone cheering and clapping for him for taking down his abusive foster father. Po was amazingly surprised and said, "Lil' Z, you were AWESOME!!!!"

"You beat this dude down!" Shanghai shouted.

"Excellent work!" Shifu agreed.

"I gotta say, I've only known you for a few days, though I never got to actually meet you, that was impressive." Jo said.

"Man, never thought you'd have the coolest brother ever!" Phoenix exclaimed.

"I must say, you have a knack for kung-fu. It will be amazing to see what you do in training." Tigress said.

Zeke chuckled and said, "Thank you."

Musaki came over towards him and looked extremely happy. He said, "You really confronted your fears. I never thought that we'd have this...similarity between each other."

"Hey, everything's possible, right?"

Musaki chuckled softly and smiled at him. He said to him, "I'm so proud of you, Zeke."

"I'm even more proud...just being your brother."

Tears were pouring out of Zeke's eyes and some were on Musaki's as well. Musaki said, "Well, I guess you're part of our family now."

"Musaki....thank you....for bringing me back to your life, because....you saved my life."

"You saved mine, too."

Musaki came in for a hug and Zeke hugged him back as well. Everyone else seemed really emotional seeing these two hugging each other, like real brothers. Po wiped his tears and said to them, tearfully, "I now have the best little brothers I have, Lil' Saki, Lil' Z, Ichi and Jo. You guys are like family to me and you're like the little brothers I never had and...I just love you guys."

"So do we." Shifu said, with tears in his eyes, as well.

"Group hug!" Mako shouted.

Everyone reached in for a group hug and for the first time ever, Zeke definitely feels like he really does belong with his family and he's now considered one of the family.

"Let's all go home." Shifu said.

"You sure?" asked Mako.

"Yeah, we have to."

"Hey, Musaki. Do you wanna drop by for a visit? Our place is kinda crowded, but you're more than welcome to drop in if you want."

"Of course, Uncle Mako. It was really cool to meet you again."

"Me too."

"You guys too."

"Well, you know, I think I have the place for you that is closer to us and even have some bigger space." Shifu said.

"What are you suggesting?"

* * *

How awesome was that fight? Zeke finally confronted his fears and defeated his abusive foster father. Now, the next chapter will focus on Musaki's uncle and cousins to live closer to Musaki and the others. But where? Find out next!


	35. Moving Closer

Mako and his kids find a new home and that place is...

* * *

Chapter 35: Moving Closer

Several minutes later, Mako and his kids were blinfolded as they were followed by Shifu and by the time they got to the Valley of Peace, Musaki and Zeke were alongside them to figure out where they're staying at. By the time they stopped, Shifu told them, "Take your blindfolds off."

They all took their blindfolds off and their eyes were still closed. Cody asked, "When do we open our eyes?"

Shifu chuckled and said, "Right now."

As soon as they opened their eyes, they were amazed by how big this place is. Most of the kids were shocked and had gone crazy about actually setting foot in the Valley of Peace. Mako was speechless and he didn't know what to say about it and he turned to Shifu and said, "Is this..."

"Yes. This is the Valley of Peace."

"Wow. I've always wanted to go there, but...this seems amazing when I first heard of it. Said that it's really peaceful there." Mako said.

"This is the most beautiful place I've ever been in." Zoey said, happily.

"It only gets better. Not only is it the most coolest part here, but there are some homes there. It's a little bigger than what you'd expect." Musaki said.

"How so?"

Mako and the rest followed Musaki to where they're staying at. Suddenly, the came across this huge home in front of them. Their mouths dropped to the floor when they first saw it. Shifu asked, "What do you think?"

"I think it's an awesome house."

"Why don't you check it out?" asked Zeke.

"Okay."

The kids were following Mako to the house and as soon as they went in, their reactions were completely on a high and it had a lot of space and rooms. The kids were running throughout most of the hallways, finding which rooms they claim is theirs. Mako didn't know what to say about this and he was more happier than ever before.

"So, what do you think?" asked Shifu.

Mako was smiling a lot and replied, "I don't know how you got to be near where you guys are, but this is truly the best one I've seen. I always wanted to have a better home for my kids, just 30 of us living in a medium-sized cave with only little rooms. Living in this temple with much space and rooms....this is like a dream for me."

"Well, it can only get better."

"How so?"

"Since Musaki has just met you today, the Jade Palace is only about 10 minutes away from here, so you and your kids can see Musaki or Zeke anytime you want."

That touched Mako's heart in a million ways, then he looked at Musaki and said, "I think your parents would be so proud of you to see you grow up into a young panda."

"Thank you." Musaki whispered.

"And you, Zeke. I think you and your brother do have this strong bond that you have and I know that your parents would be proud of you too."

"I know. If only I could see them for once." Zeke said.

"You can feel their presence. Even though they're in heaven, they're always watching over you." Musaki said.

"You feel their presence?"

"Yep. Everywhere."

"Where do I feel it?"

Musaki touched his chest and told him, "Deep in the heart."

Zeke felt his chest as well and figures that he feels his heart that his parents' spirit is inside of it. He looked at Musaki and finally realizes that he feels more and more like family with having Musaki around. He said, "I know I can feel them everywhere."

"Hey, dad! This room is definitely awesome! I can see the entire Jade Palace from there!" Zak exclaimed.

"Here's the other part--not only you can walk to and from the Jade Palace, you can see a view of it there." Shifu said.

"Are you serious?"

"Follow me."

Zeke, Musaki, Mako, Zak, Cody, Tsunami, Samurai, Zoey, Phoenix, Luna, Madison, Jared, Dakota, Diego, Tai Moon, Travis Li, Maverick King, Ryan, Mikey, Cyrus Ming, Genki, Megan, Cheyenne, Miles, Austin, Spike Li, Chloe, Chad, Crash, Bang, Logan and Tae Kwan Do followed Shifu out of the house and then, walked towards the side of the valley and sees the Jade Palace all the way from there. All of them gasp in excitement and actually see the palace from there. It was like seeing the actual thing for the first time ever.

Most of Musaki and Zeke's cousins were astonished and amazed by the view of it. Shifu asked, "What do you think?"

"Such an amazing view. I am definitely looking forward to coming there." Crash said.

"Why not now?"

"Now?"

Several minutes later, all of them went to the Jade Palace as soon as they came towards the front, the door opens and everyone gasped in excitement when they set foot on the Sacred Hall of Warriors. Luna turned to Musaki and asked, "How did you ever find a place like this?"

"I live there." Musaki answered.

"You mean...you actually live here?" asked Genki.

"Yep."

"How long have you lived in something awesome?" asked Mako.

"Almost 2 years."

"How old were you?"

"When I got here?"

"Yeah."

"13."

"Shut up! Seriously?!"

"Seriously."

"Wow!"

While they marveled at the amazingness of the palace, they were surprised to see Musaki and Zeke standing in front of Po, Crane, Viper, Tigress, Mantis and Monkey. All their jaws dropped when they first saw them. Zoey asked, "Is this the real thing?"

"Yeah, you better believe it is the real thing!" Zeke exclaimed.

"Your cousin is the coolest person to hang around with and easy to train with at times." Mantis said.

"Has he been giving you any trouble?" asked Mako.

"No troubles at all."

"Well, there were some moments between him and Tigress."

"Like what?"

"Tigress kinda have a love-hate relationship between Musaki. Like she thinks he's not accepting to be here, like he doesn't belong."

"That's how I feel most times, even though it's kinda different." Jo said.

"So, who are you, little guy?" asked Mako.

"My name's Jo Dakota Crevan. We met on Christmas break and we seem to connect to each other a bit more."

"We became really good friends."

"And we're Musaki's friends from Bao Gu Orphanage--Brian, Joey, Seth, Ty, Sonic, Mookie, Miko, Sudoku and I'm Shanghai. We met him while Musaki was an orphan and just last year, we met in an orphanage reunion. Since then, we've grown closer with each other and actually hang out with each other."

"And I'm Ichi. This is my sister, Fu, my cousin Ren and my friend Kaguya. We're Musaki's friends also."

"Wow. Musaki's got a lot of friends, hasn't he?" asked Mako.

"Yes, he has."

"Also, he considers some of them--especially us--one big family." Crane said.

"We always make Musaki feel like he's part of our family and now with Zeke, and all you guys, you definitely fit." Viper said.

"I don't know what to say. Except we're honored and privileged to be a part of this family." Mako said.

"And you defeated your abusive foster father and saved my life as well. Because of that, I'm extremely grateful." Musaki said.

"And you brought me out of the darkness and help me regain trust, friendship, family and even love. So, I'm seriously grateful to be your brother." Zeke said.

"Thanks, bro."

Both of them hugged each other and everyone was cheering and clapping for Musaki and Zeke, because they can now say that they're brothers for life.

* * *

Is that sweet or what? This next chapter will be even more heartwarming!


	36. Seeing Mom and Dad for the First Time

Thought that I wouldn't let Zeke see his parents (the same parents as Musaki's)? Think again!

* * *

Chapter 36: Seeing Mom and Dad for the First Time

It was nighttime when Zeke was in the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom, looking back on how he finally had the confidence and fearlessness of defeating his abusive foster father. It definitely feels like he's being invincible and almost like a war hero of some sorts. He doesn't seem to see it that way. He's sitting there staring at the moon, feeling the wind blowing through his fur and thinking about what he's been through these couple of days at the palace.

"Hey, Z."

He turns around and sees Musaki walking through. He smiled and said, "Hey, Saki. How's it going?"

"Fine. You seem to like this spot, don't ya?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Dude, I don't blame you. It's the best spot ever to get away from everything."

"And also some time to think."

"Well, that too. So, what's been going through your mind?"

"Do I consider myself a hero?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I defeated my foster dad and also, swallowed my fear and fought for the first time."

"Honestly, I wouldn't consider being a hero. I think you've got...courage. You spent the last 11 and a half years suffering and today. that all changed when you confronted your fears and did what you had to do."

"So, what does that make me?"

"Somewhat of a warrior, I think."

"It all seems kinda seamless."

"Who knows?"

A few minutes later, they saw a bright white flash coming towards the sky and the wind was blowing through. As soon as they turned around, Zeke was amazed to see for the first time ever, two angels floating towards them. One of the angel pandas look at Zeke and they recognized him.

"Little Ezekiel?"

His eyes grew wider when they heard him call his name. He asked, "How'd you know my name?"

"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad."

"Hello, Musaki."

"How've you been, son?"

"Doing fine."

Zeke gasped silently and asked, "Are they your....?"

"Yep."

"And they're my....?"

"Uh-huh. You mean they're _our _parents."

He turned around and asked, "Mom? Dad?"

Both of them nodded their heads and it was his parents. Zeke could not believe his eyes that he sees his parents for the first time. Both of them come closer and hugged him. Zeke gasped silently and felt their embrace and he suddenly hugs them back, with tears streaming through his eyes.

"I can't believe it's you." Zeke whispered.

"We can't believe it either." Sakamoto said.

"I always wondered how my mom and dad would look like when I got older."

"Well, here we are." said his mom.

"So...I don't understand. How did you give me up? Didn't you want me?"

"Yes, we did. We loved you both very much. It was hard to give you up, so we wanted to pass it down to your Uncle Mako, but when we got there, there wasn't anybody there and went to Hong Kong for a few days. So, we left you with some gorillas and hope that you could be taken care of."

Zeke blinked his eyes twice and looked a little sad and told them, "The ones that adopted me didn't like me."

"What do you mean?"

"Both of them physically, mentally and emotionally abuse me. It was just chaos and constant fear. My foster father tried to kill me when I was three and some of the rhino guards sent me to the Valley of Peace and I lived with the wolves for a while. They're okay, even though I don't connect with them much."

"Did they take good care of you?"

"Yeah, they did."

"I knew we should've left them with Mako. He would've taken good care of Zeke." Sakamoto said.

"Hey, don't blame yourself, dad. You didn't know that those gorillas would be so...dysfunctional." Musaki said.

"How dysfunctional?"

"Selling drugs and owning weapons, to be honest."

"They do that?!"

"Well, used to. Both of them were arrested, the foster mother committed suicide and Zeke defeated his foster father just today."

"You did?"

"Yeah."

"We saw you fighting that gorilla. I cannot tell you how proud we were of you." his mom said.

"Well, thanks."

A few minutes later, Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Ty, Sonic, Mookie, Joey, Brian, Seth, Ichi, Fu, Kaguya, Ren, Mako, Cody, Tsunami, Samurai, Zoey, Phoenix, Luna, Madison, Jared, Dakota, Diego, Tai Moon, Travis Li, Maverick Ling, Ryan, Mikey, Cyrus Ming, Genki, Megan, Cheyenne, Miles, Austin, Spike Li, Zak, Chloe, Chad, Crash, Bang, Logan, Tae Kwan Do, Po, Shifu, Crane, Mantis, Monkey, Viper and Tigress walked towards the Sacred Peach Tree, where to their surprise saw Musaki's parents.

Kaguya was the first one to see them for the first time and asked, "Musaki, are they...?"

"Yep, they're my mom and dad. Guys, these are my friends, Ichi, Kaguya, Ren, Fu, Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Ty, Brian, Sonic, Mookie, Joey, Brian and Seth. And those are your nieces and nephews; Cody, Tsunami, Samurai, Zoey, Phoenix, Luna, Madison, Jared, Dakota, Diego, Tai Moon, Travis Li, Maverick Ling, Ryan, Mikey, Cyrus Ming, Genki, Megan, Cheyenne, Miles, Austin, Spike Li, Zak, Chloe, Chad, Crash, Bang, Logan and Tae Kwan Do."

"Hello, all."

"Hi."

"So, you're really Musaki's mom?" asked Ichi.

"Yes, I am."

"You're Musaki's dad?"

"Of course."

"We're also Zeke's parents as well."

"That's surprising." Sudoku said.

"Never knew you had parents like that." Miko said.

Mako was the first one to step in when he saw Sakamoto for the first time. He walked closer to him and asked, "Sako? Is that you?"

"Hey, Mak."

Mako and Sakamoto hugged each other as Sakamoto got on the ground. He could not believe that he saw him, as an angel. He looked at him and said, "This is amazing. I never thought I would actually see you again."

"Well, hey. Here I am."

"I missed you, big bro."

"So did I, little bro. And I see your plan to fostering kids was actually working."

"And you doubted me for a second."

"We were kids, hello?"

"How have you two been?" asked Shifu.

"We've been doing fine. Has Musak been nice to you?"

"He's always been. Having Zeke here was an amazing experience for us."

"Even though we've only known the guy for like a few days, it seems like eternity." Po said.

"That's what it feels like." Musaki said.

"Zeke, just remember, we still love you and we always will. Look us up in the sky and we will be looking forward to seeing both you and Musaki here with us."

"Count on it." Zeke said.

"We'll be counting the years." Musaki said.

All of them were embracing each other and gave each other a hug. Musaki hugged his mom and Zeke hugged his dad and Musaki hugged his dad and Zeke hugged his mom, tightly. His mother told Musaki, "You two look out for each other."

"We will."

"You know where to find us."

"Yep."

"I do now." Zeke said.

Both of them waved good-bye to them and everyone waved good-bye back as they went back to the skies, continuing to watch over both of them. Zeke feels a huge feeling in his heart that he has finally seen his parents for the first time ever and it was the best feeling ever.

"What's going through your mind, Zeke?" asked Shifu.

Zeke paused for a second and there were tears coming out of his eyes and said, "They love me more than anything in the world...and they always will."

"Our parents loved us a lot and we love them too." Musaki said.

"And they will always love you more than anything." Shifu said.

"And finding each other and being with each other..."

"....keeps us closer and stronger together."

Both of them held their hands together and formed a tight bond that can never be broken as they continued looking over the skies, where their parents can look out for them and they can look out for them.

* * *

Was that sweet or what? Brotherhood is growing stronger with them around. Stay tuned for the next chapter!


	37. 15th Birthday

Remember when both Musaki and Zeke are turning 15? Well, here it is.

* * *

Chapter 37: 15th Birthday

2 weeks later....

Morning comes up and Musaki woke up from his sleep. He was sluggishly tired and feels like he has insomnia. He sighed silently, yawns softly and walked out of the room, looking tired and sleepy. He walks through the hallway of the bunkhouse, and then he realized something. Some of the rooms at the bunkhouse were empty. He looked through all of them and they were all empty.

All of a sudden, comes a small creak from behind. He turned around to see who it was and it was only Zeke. He came towards Musaki and asked, "What's up?"

"Something's weird here."

"Like how weird?"

"Well, Crane, Mantis, Tigress, Monkey and Viper aren't here."

"What do you mean? They're always here."

"You think something happened to them?"

Both of them didn't know what to think of, so they walked through the hallways and they even checked the kitchen, but caught a little glimpse that Po was the only one there, just washing the dishes. Musaki walked in first and said, "Morning, Po."

Po turned around and sees Musaki coming in alongside Zeke. He smiled at them and said, "Morning, guys."

"Hey, Po. Want to hear something weird?" asked Zeke.

"I'm afraid to know."

"No, seriously. Where's the Five?"

"The Five? Well, they went in some mission in the Black Mountains to defeat some evil boars torturing innocent people. Kinda serious."

"Where's Shifu?"

"He's with them, as always."

"Okay, that's a little weird."

"Why didn't they tell us?" asked Musaki.

"They didn't want you to know about it, so they won't be back for more than a couple of hours."

Both of them were starting to feel a little disappointed about hearing that and Musaki said, "Well, that's okay."

Po could hear the sadness coming out of Musaki's voice and he turns around and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, today is kinda important to me and Zeke."

Po didn't know what they were talking about, but then, a little glimpse of the calendar behind them starts to make sense. He walked closely towards it and realized today was June 16th--Musaki and Zeke's birthday. He covered his eye in embarassment and said, "Today's you guys' birthday? I so forgot about it."

"You forgot too?" asked Zeke.

"I didn't know it was you guys' birthday. I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"I'm really sorry, guys. It really slipped out of my mind."

"Po, you don't have to apologize. We're cool with you not knowing it was our birthday." Musaki said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Well...okay then."

"Why aren't you in the mission with the others?"

"Shifu told me that I should stay and watch you guys. Said that the mission was way too risky for me."

"Sorta...dangerous?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we're gonna do some yoga."

"You do yoga?" asked Zeke.

"Yep. Always a cool thing to start off my day."

Zeke and Musaki left the kitchen and walked towards the hallway, and Po took a glance at the hallway and exhaled deeply. He whispered, "Boy, that was close. Now I gotta focus on baking the cake for the birthday twins."

Seems as though Po _do _remembers Musaki and Zeke's birthday after all. He just wanted to keep it a surprise from them.

Meanwhile, Musaki and Zeke were near the Valley of Peace about to show Zeke his yoga positions. Zeke asked, "How long have you been doing yoga?"

"I've been doing it when I was probably around seven or eight. This is an easy way to sort of stretch and also to flex your strength a little bit." Musaki answered.

"How do you do that?"

"Just watch what I do."

Both of them stretched out one leg while the other leg goes the same direction as well and they repeated the process with the other leg and then, they raised their hands together in the air and opened up separately going one way and the other way. Then, they stretched their legs and their arms. Soon, they were doing tree positions--putting one fott near the ankle and their hands going wide apart.

Zeke was almost starting to get this and he struggled this process a little bit. Musaki asked, "You okay?"

"Just...fine."

"If you mess up a little, it's okay."

"I guess so."

After doing some yoga positions for a while, Musaki told Zeke to repeat what he does--putting his hands and feet on the ground and raise up their stomachs, took a few deep breaths and let them all out slowly and lower their heads and raise them up as they face each other. Musaki asked, "How you doing?"

"Okay. You?"

"Never been better?"

"How often do you do this?"

"Mostly every few days or just whenever I feel like getting through another day."

"Must be saving a lot of time."

"Naturally. I do it sometimes before and after training. Just to keep my blood, spirit, mind and brain flowing. Gets me through difficult times in my life."

"Amazing."

Then, they went upside down, putting their heads on the ground and their feet in the air. Musaki seems impressed with Zeke's movement. He said, "Flexible, huh?"

"Kinda."

"It's cool if you don't wanna brag about out it."

All of a sudden, Shanghai, Mako, Luna and Ichi looked at Musaki and Zeke and Luna asked, "Musaki? Zeke?"

They saw Luna and the others upside-down and said, "Hey, guys."

"What are you guys doing?" asked Mako.

"Doing yoga."

"Wow. I didn't know you were so good at it."

"Neither did I." Shanghai said.

"Isn't it obvious, though?"

"So, what brings you here?" asked Musaki.

What they don't know is that they're bringing gifts to Musaki and Zeke's birthday, so Luna told them, "We're all heading to the market to get some...food."

"Oh, yeah. Big food, big family to feed." Mako said.

"But you guys said we were gonna--"

Luna puts her hand on his mouth, so he wouldn't brag about the surprise party. She chuckled nervously and said, "Well, we wouldn't be late for shopping at the market. You never know who's gonna....get the food first."

"Ooh, yeah. Wouldn't want it to be vicious." Shanghai said.

"Better get going."

They all walked out, and already Musaki suspected something. He asked Zeke, "You think they're planning something?"

"Not that I know of."

Luna stared at Ichi and said, "You almost blew the surprise!"

"Sorry." Ichi said.

"Do you have the comics?" asked Shanghai.

"Got them in my bag. Musaki has been dying to get this and Zeke has never read manga before, so I thought that it would be cool to get him to see what it's like."

"You're a genius. Almost a bigmouth, but a genius."

Ichi sighed humorously and said, "Someday, I will laugh about this when I get older. I mean, really really older."

* * *

Several minutes later, they were almost complete with yoga and the last thing they did is the cross their legs together, close their eyes and think peaceful thoughts. Both of them are thinking that it's been a great and extraordinary journey it has been the past two weeks. Just finding each other and reuniting again and now sharing it on their 15th birthday together. It seems seamless for both of them.

They opened their eyes and looked at each other and smiled at each other. Zeke said, "Thanks for showing me how to do yoga."

"Hey, what are brothers for?" Musaki asked.

Not too long, Musaki has been hanging around his room, drawing a picture of him and Zeke together, being kung-fu warriors. He looked at it for a little while and chuckled softly. Looked kinda silly, but could happen nonetheless. Meanwhile, Zeke was sitting on the edge of the bed in silent in his room, thinking about writing another poem he's thinking of.

He took out a sheet of paper and a pencil and just let the words come loose.

* * *

A/N: Made a poem for this. Hope ya like it!

* * *

_**Changes**_

_**One day seems like a year**_

_**and all eternity**_

_**Nothing is as quite as it seems**_

_**with every possibility**_

_**From sunrise to sunset**_

_**From day to night**_

_**So many things are different**_

_**with a simple slight**_

_**You think everything **_

_**always stays the same**_

_**But it doesn't last long**_

_**like you're playing a game**_

_**So many things about you**_

_**transform in a single bound**_

_**Nothing unusual or strange**_

_**without a sound**_

_**I guess I may never know**_

_**with a passing glance**_

_**So much things in my life**_

_**that's keeping in balance**_

_**My new life has begun**_

_**With so much more to give**_

_**One that will always stick with me**_

_**are changes to overcome and I can finally live**_

_**Ezekiel "Zeke" Meng**_

He puts down his notebook and pencil back to the ground and just enjoyed the silence a little. All of a sudden, Po comes in and tells him, "Hey, Lil' Z. You and Musaki need to come over to my dad's shop."

"Why?" asked Zeke.

"Just come with me."

"Well, okay."

Zeke gets up and walks out of his room while Po knocked on Musaki's door and walked off the room. Musaki opened the door and looked at Zeke and asked, "Was that Po?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"What did he want?"

"He wants us to come to his dad's noodle shop."

"Wonder what they want us there for?"

"I don't know."

Both of them walked through the hallway and out of the bunkhouse and walked all the way down the stairs and into town. It seems almost empty there and Zeke asked, "You know the way to his dad's noodle shop?"

"Yeah, of course."

Not long when they got there, everythign looked kinda empty for a second, but as soon as they came in the kitchen...

"SURPRISE!!!!" everyone exclaimed.

Both Zeke and Musaki were totally shocked and speechless to know that everyone was around for this. Musaki dropped his jaw and said, "What is this?"

"It's your guys' birthday." Mantis said.

"Wait. I thought you guys were--"

"On a mission? How can we do that on someone's special day?"

"You guys remembered?" asked Zeke.

"Of course we remember." Po said.

"You said you forgot."

"How could I forget you guys' birthday?"

Musaki figured that Po remembered both Zeke and his birthday and just ended up giving each other a hug and Zeke joined in too. He saw everyone there--Mantis, Tigress, Shifu, Viper, Crane, Mr. Ping, Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Ty, Sonic, Mookie, Brian, Joey, Seth, Mako, Cody, Tsunami, Phoenix, Luna, Zoey, Samurai, Madison, Jared, Dakota, Diego, Travis Li, Tai Moon, Maverick Ling, Ryan, Mikey, Cyrus Ming, Genki, Megan, Cheyenne, Miles, Austin, Spike Li, Zak, Chloe, Chad, Crash, Bang, Logan, Tae Kwan Do, Ichi, Fu, Kaguya, Ren and Jo there as well.

He looked at everyone and said, "Thanks a million."

"You're welcome." Shifu said.

"So, who came with the idea of having it here?" asked Zeke.

"It was me and my dad's idea." Po said.

"Your dad?"

"Yep. Zeke, this is my father, Mr. Ping."

He looked at Mr. Ping and he said, "Pleasure to meet you, Zeke."

"You too."

He was surprised to the fact that his dad is a duck, but he didn't mind it at all. Suddenly, Phoenix said, "What are we all doing standing around? Let's get ready to party!"

* * *

That was surprising! Stay tuned for more!


	38. Birthday Wish

Can this birthday get any better?

* * *

Chapter 38: Birthday Wish

Everyone at the noodle shop are having a good time at Musaki and Zeke's birthday party. Both of them were having the time of their lives celebrating their birthday with each other after finding each other 2 weeks ago. There was dancing, a kung-fu dance show-off and talking about what it's like being 15. Later on, Zeke and Musaki were sitting at the table together, just talking and then...

Everyone from behind came out of the kitchen with this huge cake with candles and everyone started singing to Zeke and Musaki.

_Happy birthday to you_

_Happy birthday to you_

_Happy birthday, dear Musaki and Zeke_

_Happy birthday to you!_

They were clapping and cheering and Musaki and Zeke felt definitely happy and also amazed that they saw everyone around them and also the cake as well.

"Blow out the candles and make a wish, guys." Po said.

"They can't say it out loud, panda. Otherwise, it won't come true." Shifu said.

Musaki and Zeke closed their eyes for a second and after a few seconds, they opened their eyes and blew out the candles together. The clapping and cheering resumed after seeing them blow out the candles together.

"So what did you wish for, Musaki?" asked Viper.

"Honestly, I wished for something cooler like this. But, what I will say is that I'm so lucky to celebrate this special day with my brother. After being on this earth for 15 years and seeing him for 2 weeks, I'm just hoping that we can catch up all the time that we lost and still have that strong bond we have." Musaki said.

That touched Zeke's heart a lot and then, he said, "I guess it's my turn. Really, I'm just happy to be surrounded by awesome family and friends in a special day like this. In most birthdays, I would spend it alone, even though my adopted family from the Valley of Peace took me in and made me special when my birthday comes, but having it here...is the best thing that ever happened to me and to have it with Musaki....there's nothing that I could even ask for. I can't put it into words. It's just...the best day of my life."

Musaki smiled a lot and said, "Thanks, bro."

"That was beautiful." Po said, tearfully.

"Oh, not again!" Musaki and Ichi exclaimed.

"I was happy for you guys this time."

"Yeah, sure you were."

"Well, let's cut out the cake! Po made it himself." Mr. Ping said.

Everyone looked a little skeptical about how Po's cake would taste like. Musaki and Zeke cut the first slices of cake and when they ate it, they were astonished and surprised about the taste of it.

"This is actually really good." Musaki said.

"Yeah, tastes amazing." Zeke said.

"Dig in, guys."

With that, everyone grabbed a plate, cut some cake and ate it and they soon realized that they were right--Po's cake does taste good.

"I'm impressed." Tigress said.

"You've done it again, Po." Mantis said.

"Good at noodles, great at baking." Crane said.

"You've really outdid yourself." Shifu said.

"How do you do it?" asked Ren.

"Okay, time for gifts!" Mako said.

Ichi went in first and brought in several boxes and inside the boxes were manga. They were totally surprised that it was a gift for them. Musaki asked, "How'd you know?"

"When I first met Zeke, I figured that this new issue of 'Breaking Dawn and Dusk' that came out and Zeke's first time reading manga, I figured you guys might like reading it for the first time." Ichi said.

"Dude, you are a genius. Thanks a million!" Musaki said.

"Yeah, thanks. They're really incredible!" Zeke exclaimed.

"Now it's time for my present. Even though seeing you two makes me feel lucky and proud to be your master, I am honored to give you some new bandanas. The first one is Musaki's, it's a blue and green one with an 'M' on top of it and for Zeke, it's a red and orange one with a 'Z' on top it, so that way you'll know which is which." Shifu said.

"These are awesome! Thanks."

Jo was next to go and told them, "Happy birthday, guys. I got you both some notepads so Musaki can write more songs and Zeke can write more poems."

"How'd you know I write poems?" asked Zeke.

"While I was looking around in your room a few days ago, I saw this notebook that had a lot of poems and I write poems as well, so we have a common ground. With this kind of expression, I figured that both of you have a personal piece of you coming out that needs to be written in paper, by songs and poetry. Hope you guys like it."

"Like it? We love it!"

"I was hoping you would."

"Thanks, Jo."

"My turn!" Po exclaimed, as he went towards them.

"My gift for you guys is super-cooler than ever before. I went to the Bao Gu Orphanage last week and found this on what used to be Musaki's room. I found this under your bed."

He pulls out a brown and orange teddy bear that has little marks on it and Musaki was surprised to see it. He dropped his jaw and asked, "Po...is that... Pookie?"

Musaki looked closer to it and smells the familiar scent of Musaki's parents. He gasped and said, "It is Pookie! I haven't seen him in over 3 years."

"Pookie is your teddy bear?" asked Zeke.

"Well, it was the only memory I ever had with my parents."

"Wow. I didn't know."

Then, Po came and gave Zeke a flute. He looked at the flute and said, "This is amazing. How'd you know that?"

"They had some new flutes coming in, so I thought you might want them."

"Amazing. Thanks!"

"And thanks for bringing Pookie back." Musaki said.

"All right, guys. Make way for your Uncle Mako. I've only known you for two weeks, but I wish I would've taken both of you in after your parents died. I wanted to wait until you two found each other and I guess the wait is over." Mako said.

He pulls out two necklaces that represent both of them. One has a black and red necklace that says 'Saki' and on the back says, 'spirit' and the other is a green and blue necklace that says 'Zeke' on the front and on the back says, 'brotherhood'. Both of them put their necklaces on and feels a huge connection between the two of them.

"May you wear these necklaces as sign that the bond will never be broken...no matter what."

"It's cool. Thanks, Uncle Mako." Musaki said.

"You're welcome."

"And thanks for the gifts, guys. They were so awesome."

"And the birthday was a blast." Zeke said.

"It's all for you two, because you're our family." Shifu said.

"I can hardly wait until our 16th birthday."

"I know, right? Wonder what it's gonna be like?"

Shifu sighed heavily and puts on a half-amused, half-embarassed face and said, "Teenagers these days...."

* * *

One chapter left! The last chapter is gonna be awesome!


	39. Fireflies

And we wrap this story with a bright happy ending!

* * *

Chapter 39: Fireflies

A few hours later, Zeke and Musaki got to the steps of the Jade Palace and both of them were a little exhausted. Zeke panted heavily and said, "How huge are these steps?"

"I have no idea. They always put it there for millions of years ago, I think." Musaki said.

"Why couldn't they make it more smaller?"

"I ask myself that same question everyday. Plus, Po told me that walking up these stairs make him tired. And I can see why, I don't think his body nor his weight could support it."

They looked at each other and started laughing hysterically about that joke. They both walked towards the palace and walks past it and decides to head to the Sacred Peach Tree. As they got there, they both sat down and watch the sun go down and see the night sky coming through.

"Was that an awesome birthday or what?" asked Zeke.

"It was a lot cooler than last year's birthday. It seemed pretty cool. I've never actually had birthdays like that." Musaki explained.

"How do you mean?"

"Before you came, I was in my dark room back at the orphanage feeling depressed, sad and lonely and I would often spend my birthdays feeling that way, because I was still grieving over the loss of our parents."

"Wow. That must really hurt you."

"Yeah. It hurts me deeply, but as soon as I got older and ended up here, I just learned to live with it."

"How long have you gotten used to it?"

"I was about 12, I think. At that point at the orphanage, I was always in my room, feeling lonely and I was so scared about making any friends, because I was afraid that no one would want me as a friend, well besides Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Ty, Sonic, Mookie, Brian, Joey and Seth. They pretty much came to my life when I was about six or seven. After they got adopted, I was back to my loneliness sorrow state and I remained that way until I was 12 or 13. I was considered over my parents' death by only a few orphans that I've told."

"I thought you said you never come out of your room."

"Sometimes, I come out for several occasions, but just to wander around a little unnoticed. Other times, orphans notice me a little and some of them like to bully me for no reason."

Zeke's eyes raised up and asked, "Bully you? How?"

"Call me names, start fights and just everything they do in order to get me in trouble. When that happens, I just walk away and sometimes, I would run away from it. And mostly, I just let it out. It seems weird, but they just don't understand me much, so I just let it all out for so long and sometimes, I would just cry myself to sleep."

"Were you scared of going to sleep at night?"

"Yeah, I used to. There were times they I had to stay up all night, because I would always have nightmares about my parents' death and how Tai Lung would come after me. It was just scary."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"Asking you about what happened in your life."

"Oh, don't be. I'm always open to almost everything about my past. Talking about it kinda helps me through it and I always feel better after that."

"Who taught you that?"

"It was before and after I came here. Shifu has helped me through in many ways and so did Po. But mostly, Shifu is the one person that is kinda like my father figure to me and I'm really lucky to have him in my life."

Zeke was astonished to know that 14 days ago, he's grown closer to Musaki as ever before and now he's learning everything about him. Zeke looked at his blue eyes and realizes that he saw himself in that position. Musaki stared at him staring at his eyes and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just...looking at you and hearing your story, kinda reminds me of myself a little bit."

"How so?"

"Well, after my abusive foster parents were sent away to jail, another family from the Valley of Peace took me in. I'm sorta okay with them, but I never really go to them for anything. Don't get me wrong, they're nice, but we never connect or anything like that, so I just end up playing the shy kid card. Plus, they only have a few siblings and I'm kinda invisible towards most of them."

"Why?"

"Well, mostly after my foster parents were taken, I never really learned to trust anyone. I kinda trust my adopted parents, but I'm not sure I should tell them anything about me, so I keep myself silent."

"No offense, but I think that doesn't help any. Is that why you were always like that from day one when I first saw you?"

"I guess."

"Look at you now. You're talking to me more, as well as the others and you like it here. So, I guess you trust us."

"Yeah, I know. Before I came here, my adopted parents were pretty much the only family I have until here that is. Now, I can finally say that I do have a family...a really awesome family."

"Yeah, you do. Do you still visit your adopted parents?"

"Just often. The guards that took me here said that I can only see them on Thanksgiving or on special occasions. All other holidays, I can spend here."

"Well, that helps a lot."

"I know. Being 15 is pretty cool."

Musaki chuckled and said, "I agree."

As the sky changes to night blue, they spot something towards the sky. Almost immediately, they're beginning to see some fireflies coming in towards them. Musaki asked, "Are those...?"

"Fireflies?" asked Zeke.

And they're right--they are fireflies. Little lightning bugs surrounding the entire palace. Zeke looked at Musaki and Musaki looked at him and he asked, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Let's catch them."

Both of them run towards where the fireflies are heading and surround themselves with them. They decided to head back to the kitchen to get some jars to catch the fireflies and when they came out with them, the fireflies are still here.

"Ready?" asked Zeke.

"Ready when you are." Musaki answered.

They run around, laughing and trying to catch those fireflies like there's no tomorrow. Shifu and Po went outside and they saw Musaki and Zeke catching some fireflies. Shifu chuckled softly and said, "Fireflies are pure innocence."

"Pure innocence? How?" asked Po.

"Just look at them, Master Po. You can see them catching the fireflies and it's like innocence can never go away for a while."

"Really? I guess that means that childhood is so close to you, it could never be released."

"Exactly."

"I think I sorta understand what you're saying."

"Hey, guys! Look at what we caught!" Musaki exclaimed.

Musaki and Zeke show off their fireflies in a jar and Po looked impressed with what they caught. He said, "That's awesome, you guys. You must really like these fireflies."

"Yeah, this is the first time I've ever seen them before."

"You've never seen a real firefly before?"

"No."

"Me neither." Zeke said.

Shifu stood in front of them and said, "Fireflies are a wonderful thing. It's what keeps you young again. Childhood are like fireflies and you want to keep them in a jar and never let them be released. And they could never fly away from you. Even though you grow up, those fireflies will keep your innocence once you see them."

"Wow. I never thought of it that way." Musaki said.

Both of them looked at the fireflies on the jar and figured that it's what will keep their memories together. Even though they have rough childhoods, they can still consider some of the greatest childhood memories they will treasure.

"So, what you're saying is childhood memories are like fireflies and you want keep it alive, you can never let them go?" asked Zeke.

"That's right."

"Now I get it."

"Fireflies are awesome!" Po exclaimed.

"You guys wanna dance around the fireflies?" asked Musaki.

"Dance with the fireflies?" asked Shifu.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Sounds good to me."

Zeke and Musaki put their fireflies in a jar and went around the other side of the valley, dancing with the fireflies. Po followed them as well and Shifu chuckled softly and said to himself, "Might as well join them."

Shifu followed them as they see the others dance around the fireflies and Shifu joined them as well. They start to sing a little song about the fireflies as well.

Po: _You would not believe your eyes,  
If ten million fireflies.  
Lit up the world as I fell asleep._

_Musaki: 'Cause they fill the open air,  
And leave teardrops everywhere.  
You think me rude,  
But I would just stand and stare._

_Both: I'd like to make myself believe,  
That Planet Earth turns slowly.  
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep,  
'Cause everything is never as it seems._

_Zeke: 'Cause I get a thousand hugs,  
From ten thousand lightning bugs.  
As they try to teach me how to dance,_

_Shifu: A foxtrot above my head,  
A sockhop beneath my bed.  
The disco ball is just hanging by a thread (thread, thread)._

_Together: I'd like to make myself believe,  
That Planet Earth turns slowly.  
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep,  
'Cause everything is never as it seems_

_Po and Zeke: Leave my door open just a crack _

_Musaki and Shifu: __(please take me away from here),_

_Shifu and Zeke: 'Cause I feel like such an insomniac _

_Musaki and Po: (please take me away from here)._

_Shifu and Po: Why do I tire of counting sheep?_

_Musaki and Zeke: (please take me away from here)_

_All: When I'm far too tired to fall asleep._

To ten million fireflies,  
I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes.  
I got misty eyes as they said farewell (said farewell),  
But I know where several are.  
If my dreams get real bizarre,  
'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar.

_I'd like to make myself believe,  
That Planet Earth turns slowly.  
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep,  
'Cause everything is never as it seems (when I fall asleep)._

I'd like to make myself believe,  
That Planet Earth turns slowly.  
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep,  
'Cause everything is never as it seems (when I fall asleep).

I'd like to make myself believe,  
That Planet Earth turns slowly.  
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep,  
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams.

They spent most of the night chasing fireflies and just laughing and having fun. For the first time in Zeke's life, he has found his family...the family he ever wanted and for Musaki, he has found his twin brother and it will be a moment that he would cherish for the rest of his life and he's looking forward to more adventures with Zeke in he future and it will be something to be shared for the rest of their lives and their strong bonds will never fly away like fireflies.

* * *

Was that awesome or what?! Thank goodness that this is finally done! I'd like to thank all of my reviewers who have been falling for this story for almost 2 months. The song was "Fireflies" from Owl City. Don't worry, you'll see more of Zeke anytime soon! Thanks for reading and feel free to leave me some reviews! Animation Universe 2005, saying see ya'll later!


End file.
